


Final Fantasy XIII Episode NORA

by heartonpins



Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Gen, final fantasy xiii team nora, team nora - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 09:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 48,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3891742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartonpins/pseuds/heartonpins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Purge hit, every life in Bodhum had been ruined. Being marked as fugitives and wanted dead by an entire planet isn't easy. Retelling Final Fantasy XIII's plot from Team NORA's side of the story~</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Seaside city of Bodhum, located near the southern most part of Cocoon, was made up of a community of islands. The one just off the Bodhum Station, only about a fair fifteen minute walk, housed most of the town's entertainment districts and was the most populated tourist destinations. Bodhum was the only place in Cocoon that held the perfect beach resort atmosphere, so boasted the brochures and commercials. Locals and vacationers alike enjoyed the cool air and calm waters along the shorelines. Children splashed in the waves or chased the fishes while the adults lounged on chairs. Those who had had their fill of the sea had the option of the Bodhum Mall to enjoy at their leisure, with a variety of shops and stores overflowing with souvenirs or other merchandise to take home.

Along the shoreline of the main island, just a ways down from the mall, sat a small local cafe. While some beach-goers were strolling along the shore or playing in the surf, many occupied the area of this building.

A young woman with dark hair closely framed around her face and pulled up in a messy bun was behind the bar counter. She'd found business had calmed down enough and decided to preoccupy herself by organizing the many serving bottles to be as visually pleasing as possible inside the display shelf. Lebreau's Cafe wasn't one of the more touristy locations on Bodhum, but by the amount of customers flooding in and out, it was easy to think otherwise. Conversations drifted through the air, meshing together with the calm rush of the waves outside and peppered by the clinks of bottles by the barmaid. She carried on casual talk with a customer standing at the bar, who was enjoying the drink she'd served him. While she was excellent at cooking a variety of delectable foods and making drinks, she was also a good conversationalist.

A little known fact of the Bodhum Cafe was that it wasn't only an excellent place to lounge around on a lazy afternoon, but it was also the headquarters for the local group of youths that formed a team called NORA. They acted as the neighborhood watch of sorts, keeping an eye out for any forms of trouble, which mostly came at the hands of monsters.

Their mechanical prodigy had gone to work on several of the vehicles with funds from the cafe and made them something that most airbike producers would deem unsafe to drive. Now if the drivers would actually obey the traffic laws while driving them, perhaps he wouldn't have to spend day after day fixing the damages received from their scuffles around the town. Today he decided their damages weren't so bad that their flight would be hindered in any way and instead decided to take shelter within the bar.

A pair of oversized headphones completely obscured his ears. While at most they only served as decoration along with the goggles that sat atop the messy fluff of blond hair, they were perfectly functional to fill his mind with music when needed. At the moment, they instead filled his head with unpleasant static as he messed with the knobs of the small transmission radio sitting on the table near the back of the bar. Small clips of words could be heard through the white noise but nothing that formed an actual sentence.

"Any luck?" Asked Lebreau, now without company, as she paused in her organizing to look over at the seventeen year old to her left. She had spoken at the perfect timing, otherwise Maqui never would have heard her over the sudden barrage of static, causing him to unplug the headphones in irritation. A look of fuming anger took over his boyish face as he mumbled a response, glaring down at the small radio. Lebreau grinned, turning back to her task. Maqui hated when something mechanical in his hands wasn't cooperating. But it gave him all the more determination to make it work.

"Maybe there just isn't anything going on today." The young woman suggested though for the lack of response she received, Maqui either hadn't heard her, or was choosing to ignore her statement as he returned to messing with the many knobs and dials.

"Maqui having trouble with the radio again?" Greeted a voice from across the bar area. Having just ascended the stairs, a towering man with fiery hair walked over to the counter, his greeting hinting that he was well acquainted with one two. Lebreau gave a small nod to Gadot with a hummed answer.

"What do you think? Should I move the bottle of Mergai over next to the Nivra or is the orange and red a nice contrast to each other?" Lebreau stepped back to admire her work. Gadot, not really caring what was next to where, pretended to seriously consider the question. He put a hand to his chin to further solidify the fact that he was thinking hard about his answer.

"I think...customers will be more concerned about whatever drink they're ordering. Not to mention I think they have better things to stare at." A short glance in Lebreau's direction hinted just what might have been the better option.

"Hey! Psychologists say there's a color pattern that could get you more business. I'm trying to find the perfect match seeing as you guys keep blowing through the money I make." Lebreau huffed, snapping the display case shut so hard that a few of the smaller bottles rattled and fell over. Gadot's laugh covered Lebreau's sigh of frustration as she was left to set the bottles upright again.

There was another grumble of aggravation from the back of the bar. Maqui was still hunched over the device. Judging by his hasty movements, he must have just lost a clear signal.

"Hey, Maqui. Have you tried hitting it?" Gadot suggested, unable to suppress a short laugh. Maqui wouldn't hit an object just to make it work. His philosophy was abuse of the object it would probably only make the problem worse. The boy replied with a short huff as he took a moment to throw the man a stern look, clearly missing the fact that Gadot had been joking. Raising his hands in a sort of defensive pose, as though fearing Maqui would whip the goggles from his head and chuck them at him, Gadot chuckled at the boys reaction.

"Where's the boss?"

Lebreau jerked her head towards the bar's entrance. "He left to go see if beloved wife. How goes training the rookies?"

"Training? More like babysitting." Gadot replied with a scoff, leaning on the empty space of the counter. "Hear what happened at the Euride Gorge yesterday?"

"Yeah, PSICOM must be getting bored what with no attacks from Pulse in the last five centuries that they're handling industrial accidents. Well, it explains why earlier today the power was going on the fritz."

Gadot shrugged, "I heard some rumors already going around. Some people think since PSICOM's there, it could have something to do with Pulse."

"Like someone trying to attack Kujata? That's smart," She pitched up her voice with enthusiasm, "Attack a fal'Cie, see how that works out for ya. Probably just some dumb kids who started throwing rocks or something."

Gadot heaved a sigh of a laugh, momentarily distracted by Maqui still working on the radio. "He won't give up on that thing, will he?" He asked the barmaid.

"Nope. He's been working at that all morning."

"I still suggest hitting it."

"That stuff only works in the vidshows." The boy pouted, having heard their conversation through the static.

"Oh my goodness, is that the sound of giving up?" Lebreau faked a shocked expression as she perched her hand on her propped arm leaning over the counter. For the moment, she'd given up on the alignment of the bottles.

"It's not like the Great Mechanic Maqui to throw in the towel." Gadot stated, making the title for Maqui sound more like a legendary story than a title he'd just thought up half a second ago. A small grin turned Maqui's lips at the sound of being called the Great Mechanic, but he tried his best to keep his angered expression, he hid it away as he hunched over the table to continue messing with the gears.

Gadot changed the subject to what he'd entered the bar to ask in the first place. "I'm headin' into town later, you need anything?"

Lebreau looked down at the counter for a moment, her eyebrows knitting in thought, her mind running a quick checklist before looking over her shoulder.

"Uh, yeah! I'm running low on Cassia, I could use another case."

"You got it." Gadot gave a nod and departed through the front entrance.

Lebreau pursed her lips a moment. Now with no one to talk to, she was going to get irritably bored quite quickly if she didn't have something to occupy herself with. She decided to give the display case a break and start on fixing up the bottles below the counter. As she worked, she trained her ear to listen in on the conversations around her. This was one of the key ways she was able to hear about any local rumors and goings-on about the town. At his work station, it looked as though Maqui had given into the fight with the radio as he was casually flicking one of the larger nobs to the left.

Having discovered a bottle of clear liquid, she raised it to the light and gave it a shake. It was then she noticed someone had taken a seat at the bar. Not having been paying attention to the flow of customers, she was mildly surprised, even more so when she saw just who the customer was.

A man of about thirty, clad in the blue attire of a Sanctum officer had taken a seat. This was at most a rare occasion, as Sanctum workers and the like never bothered with out of the way restaurants such as Lebreau's.

"What can I get for you?" She greeted all the same; a customer was a customer.

"I'm a bit hungry." Replied the man in a strange accent. "I'll take anything that's good."

"Anything you don't like?"

The man shook his head. Lebreau always knew the best recommended specials for those not picky about what they would have. Sliding over a small plate of fresh sliced fruit, she started on the order. Part of her itched to ask what brought a Sanctum offer to her humble restaurant. She had a small fear that perhaps PSICOM had had enough of NORA and their interferences in the area. A few minutes passed of conversation filled air when suddenly the scrambling appearance of Maqui at the counter caught the barmaids attention. By the excited look on his face, he had finally tapped into a radiowave.

"Hey I finally got something. Is Snow here?"

"I told you not to run in the bar." Scolded Lebreau as she put the finishing touches on the officer's plate.

"I know, but where-" Maqui had begun to repeat, before Lebreau cut over him.

"He had to go meet Serah. Now that you're up why don't you go get me some more vegetables from the back?" Maqui looked at her in exasperation before Lebreau laughed. "I'm just kidding. Go take Gadot, he hasn't left yet. And grab Yuj while you're at it, he needs to do something other than looking pretty."

The an excited grin, the boy disappeared back through the crowd, trying his best not to run under his feet were on the sandy ground outside. Lebreau turned her attention back to the officer and noticed he was casting glances around the bar. Newcomers were always distracted by the of eye-catching colorful decorations, but the barmaid had a thought that perhaps the officer felt too much of an age gap with the rest of the crowd.

"Sir? Is there someone you're waiting for?"

The man shook his head. ""I'm searching for someone. Have you seen a girl? About seventeen or eighteen years old?"

"About three come every hour. Is there anything else you can tell me about her?"

* * *

 

Authors Note: 

Okay so hi! I'm sorta new around here. I'm so happy you decided to read this fanfic as it's my first I've written. I've been working on it since 2010 and while I'm a slow as molasses writer, I am intent on finishing this thing in the near future. I hope you guys enjoy~


	2. Chapter 2

The farming district of the island was peaceful. A gentle breeze swept through the meter high stalks of perfectly lined rows of growing vegetation. Until they bore whatever vegetable they were meant to, they were nothing more than uninteresting green plants that took up most of the farming portion of the island. A flock of small birds were nestling happily along the outer edges of the crop, going through their day just like any other. That was, until a sudden roaring barrage of sound startled them into the skies. They hadn't heard the airbikes coming. One second there had been silence, the next a blur passed by so fast that several birds were nearly caught in the back wind. Their disgruntled screeches fell on deaf ears as the riders of the two airbikes sped on their way.

Had they slowed to take in their surroundings, they would have noted the line of houses in the distance. This was partially the reason why they didn't care to keep their over-amplified engines quieted. The back-country was the best place to push the engines to reach their full potential without causing much of a disturbance to the residential houses. But it was also because of the expansiveness of the farming properties that would often give calls for emergencies. Not just the human inhabitants thought Bodhum was an ideal place for vacationing and permanent housing, monsters often thought along the same lines. Creatures from all walks of life would often spring up on the shores and in the forests. Most monsters hated humans and stayed away from human congested areas, but that didn't stop them from causing annoyances to the spacious farming areas of the city. The Guardian Corps stationed in Bodhum were usually the first to take care of these sorts of issues, but even they had some competition.

Earlier that afternoon, a call had been dispatched of several monster uprisings in the area. Several to the North-east and a few to the west. Upon reaching an intersection, the small party of NORA members decided to split up, allowing them to handle both problems at the same time. Their leader, Snow and one of the other members went off to handle the west side of the island, while the other three went in the opposite direction.

The airbikes sped to the end of the dirt road before making a sharp left as they were finally nearing their destination. A good hundred yards or so ahead small reddish colored monsters could be seen hopping about just outside the forest boundary with no sign of the Corps having arrived yet. Several had already begun to venture into the vegetable crop across the road. This was a good sign. If they finished the job first, it would spread more good publicity about their efforts. Be it angrily from the Corps or any innocent bystanders, it didn't matter much to them.

The first airbike touched down for a swift and silent landing behind a cover of tall shrubbery. Not just anyone could stop an airbike on a gil on top of landing perfectly level. The rider of this airbike knew how to manage and control the hovercraft. He hopped off the driver's seat as the second vehicle landed beside him.

"Looks like I win again." Announced the slim figured boy. "Geeze, Gadot, I thought you were better than that. You are the one who taught me how to fly these things."

Gadot, dismounted his airbike and considered the teen through stern eyes for a moment. "You'll be singing a different tune when you find yourself wrapped around a tree one day." He retorted, turning to pull a machine gun from the side compartment of the airbike.

Yuj scoffed, brushing away the man's comeback. "Like I'd fly into a tree on purpose." He propped his gun of choice over his shoulder as he looked on at the monsters scouting about in the distance. The Bloodbaths looked to be about twice the size of the average dog. Small and weak, but annoying little buggers. They'd managed to chew through one of their airbikes on a mission several days ago, to which their mechanic, who'd just clambered off Gadot's passenger seat, was still repairing in the shop.

"Man, I really should have installed seat belts." The blond boy muttered, trying to recover from their high-speed drive. Gadot handed him the second smaller machine gun and his winded look quickly evaporated as he took the weapon carefully. Maqui was used to being around guns but he was still new to actually using them. They were loud, which was a reason he often wore his headphones as they doubled as a sort of earplug.

"Augh, looks like another cakewalk." Yuj muttered with disappointment. By his tone, he considered the monsters to be hardly even worth throwing stones at. "I still don't see why I need to be here. I'm sure you could have handled it."

Gadot gave a chortle laugh as he stood next to the blue haired teen to survey the monsters. "It was either this, or sitting with Leb organizing bottles for the afternoon."

"Point taken." Yuj replied without taking a moment to consider the other option. "I say we take a really long time with these guys."

"Ah, why?" Gadot responded. "I thought you liked Leb."

"About as much as I like a bug bite." Yuj snapped, now looking annoyed at Gadot's constant teases.

"Well then," Said Gadot, turning his head from shoulder to shoulder, his neck giving rather unsettling loud pops. "I say we get going."

Following their party leader, they moved forward down the short stretch of road towards the monsters. Naturally, the little knobbly legged creatures didn't appreciate the sudden barrage of bullets that was showering them. In retaliation, they hissed and lept at the offenders. What had looked like only five or so monsters had evidently been only the forefront of the pack. At the sound of their cries and fighting, other Bloodbaths began to appear through the underbrush.

Maqui let out a small whimper as he lowered his gun, having yet to fire it. His confidence in his fighting ability was low enough as is, even against one enemy. Now seeing their target had multiplied, he was sure this wouldn't end well. How he wished he could just go someplace safe and take a nap instead. Gadot and Yuj on the other hand, found the new challenge to be more appealing. After all, where was the fun in taking down only a small handful of weak monsters?

Team NORA advanced with Gadot in the leading the assault. Yuj and Maqui served as cover from any surrounding attacks, to which there were many. More Bloodbaths appeared from the trees, a few scattered away in an attempt to flee, and some stood their ground to make a decent comeback, but for the most part, Team NORA was looking victorious.

Maqui had finally gotten over his fear long enough to fire a few rounds, which missed their target by a considerable amount and strayed into the ground. With a frightening hiss, the unharmed monster lept for the boy. The blond was a little too quick on his feet, staggering backwards and tumbling onto the hard dirt. The monster was air born, teeth and claws aimed right for its helpless prey. His yell alerted Gadot, who quickly aimed and fired, sending the beast flying sideways with a yelp. Maqui lay on the floor stunned, the machine gun sitting uselessly in his hands. He was helped to his feet but looked even more worse for wear than when they started.

"You look like you could use this." Said Gadot, offering him a small blue vile in his hand. With word of thanks and a nervous laugh, Maqui accepted the potion and downed its contents. Immediately he felt rejuvenated. At least, he felt his stamina return but his confidence was still nearly non-existent. He hid this thought with a forced light-hearted laugh before following Gadot to return to their fight.

Meanwhile, Yuj had been keeping the monsters at bay. Rather than shooting blindly at them, he'd fire a few well placed bullets here and there. Either hitting their target, or close enough to startle them several paces back. If the monsters would rather run and hide, he'd prefer to let them do just that. He didn't have the heart for mindless slaughter. Already the body count of these demons was racking up. The mess of cleaning up afterwords was looming before them the longer they fought. On top of which, they were running on limited time. The Guardian Corps had been getting mildly annoyed with their interferences as of late, this fight might just be that one last push to force serious action.

One of the relentless creatures had moved along the outside of the group, unnoticed as the rest of the pack was holding their attackers' attention. Taking advantage of the blue hair that swept over the left side of Yuj's face, or just deciding he was the closest target, it sprang forward. By chance, Yuj had moved just a second before the attack, his mind only registering too late what had happened. In the momentum of being hit, he fell hard on his side, the wind knocked from him, but his gun held fast. At this, the Bloodbath wheeled around and moved in for another damaging hit. Using his gun, Yuj blocked the blow, now pinned to he ground under the heavy feral beast.

Gadot far too preoccupied with cutting down the enemies with Maqui close behind. Neither of them had noticed the sudden fall of their party member. That didn't matter, Yuj wasn't going to let some weak monster get the better of him. Thinking quick, Yuj braced himself against the weight of the animal, lodged his leg between its torso and joint and in one swift move, dislodged the beast all together and catapulted it over his head. Unable to land correctly, the Bloodbath fell onto its side a few feet away, quickly scrambling to its feet. Still lying on the ground, Yuj twisted and aimed his gun. A handful of bullets strayed into the dirt, but several hit their mark. The beast let out a wail and bounded back into the forest line. At least now it would know not to come back unless it wanted to be killed off for good. Yuj rolled back onto his feet, momentarily upset as he looked down at his dirt covered clothing, but the thought was brushed aside as he moved ahead to catch up with the other two.

It was dawning on the Bloodbaths that this was a battle they weren't going to win. Those eager to flee disappeared into the nearby underbrush while those with a more stubborn mindset stayed behind long enough to throw one last threatening hiss before following their kin. Once the last tail had disappeared into the bushes and a relative but tense quiet was restored, the three looked at each other in triumph.

"Monsters are no match for NORA!" Boasted Yuj and Maqui in unison. Breaking into a small sort of victory fanfare, the three hadn't heard the distant rumbling of a roar.

"Ah man, and I just got this." Groaned Yuj as he tried to look over the damages done to his shirt. Nothing too considerably bad but it still put him off a little bit. He gave a brisk shake to his mess of blue hair and picked up his gun which had been propped against his leg. He looked up to find Gadot had been watching him with crossed arms and a smug grin.

"What?" Asked the teen, unable to hold down an embarrassed smile.

"Nothing." Gadot shook his head and raised a hand with a dismissive wave, his voice light and casual though it was obvious to see he'd clearly found something amusing. "I always thought it was only women who got upset at things like broken nails, bad hair days and a spot of dirt on their outfit. Then again, you do kind of look like a-"

"Ah, shut up." Yuj cut across him, though he too was smirking at the teasing gesture. "It's not my fault I have good genetics." For standing at nearly six feet, with a light frame, Yuj had fair grounds to have such confidence in himself, even if he was a bit more hot-headed than he needed to be. His fitted dark shirt showed off his slim waist while black jeans and tall boots made a point of further expressing his tall form. On top of which he often accented his outfits with belts or other decorations of feathers and beads as well always wearing a necklace ending in a brown and silver pendant. All in all, his outfits of choice complimented his style rather well, even his unnatural blue hair.

Maqui had been standing awkwardly in between the to the two of them, fidgeting lightly on his feet. He didn't have a single shred of intelligence when it came to the best fashion. Those living in Bodhum always wore outfits suited to the weather, while his outfit was often thought to be better for winter wear rather than what someone would wear on a resort island. All the same, Maqui was comfortable in it, he figured that's all that mattered. Still though, he was often envying Yuj for his confidence and intellect in such matters.

"Looks like they aren't gonna get here." Yuj commented as he turned around to look at the skies, idly tapping the end of his gun against his palm. "It's not like them to ignore a danger call."

"Maybe they decided it wasn't too bad?" Suggested Maqui.

"Or maybe they knew we'd get here first." Replied Yuj rather smugly. "Guess we should head back before the neighborhood wonders what hap-"

They all heard it. Just as Yuj had been speaking, a scream had cut through the stillness that had settled around them. It was short, as though it had been cut off, but they were sure they heard it. What was worse, it had been cut off by a loud snapping sound, like a tree had been snapped in half like a toothpick. For a few moments, their heads whipped around trying to find the direction it had come from. They didn't have to search long as another sound of something crashing down off a small road ahead announced where the disturbance was. Before any of them could voice their thoughts on investigating, something barreled out from the path they were focused on.

It was a person, wearing some sort of brown jacket, pants, a gray cap and desperatly clinging onto a knapsack. At the speed he was running, they easily guessed this was the one who'd let out the distressed yell. His speed was slow, further hindered by the fact he was continuously staggering forward, tripping over his own feet. He wasn't ten feet from the forest boundary when something bounded out behind him. A beastly creature a good three or so sizes larger than the ones they had just encountered emerged, taking down several small trees with it. Maybe the Bloodbaths hadn't retreated at all and merely fell back to find their leader, or worse, they'd fled knowing it was near. Without looking to one another for assessment, the party raced forward.

The beast had closed the distance between it and the boy in a single jump, lunging forward with a swipe of its front claws. The boy, more than keen to put as much distance between he and the thing chasing him, ended up tripping over an uplifted rock and tumbling hard to the ground. In one quick motion, the monster snapped its teeth on the cowering boy. A heart-beat of horrified silence caused the party to stop several meters away. The monster raised its head, holding the boy between its jaws by the back of his jacket, like a mother cat would carry a kitten. His feet kicked feebly, hands reaching up to grab at the collar that was now choking him.

Gadot was the first to act, aiming his machine gun and opening fire on the beast's lower torso. The other two followed suit, hoping to cause enough of a distraction that the boy would be dropped. At the sound of the machine guns, the beast turned its head with an annoyed snort, causing the three to cease fire. Now the situation was getting tricky. The beast was using the kid as a sort of body shield, whether it knew it or not. There was no way of getting a direct hit without endangering the boy, not that he wasn't already in enough danger as it was.

"Move around it and fire from there." Gadot directed to his party. Yuj and Maqui ran forward, taking either side of the beast at a fair distance to be within range of a high attack but not close enough to get hit themselves. "And don't hit the kid!"

They opened fire on either side of the monster, but its hide was tougher than the Bloodbaths and repelled most of the bullets. It still hurt however, which caused the beast's head to whip around in anger at the assailants. This was proving to be an even worse off idea as now its victim was a life-sized rag-doll chew toy.

"This isn't working." Thought Yuj as he lowered his weapon. He turned his mind over trying to think of a way this could possibly end well. He had to think like their leader. If there was a way to save someone, he'd have to find it and fast. Just as he thought so, there was a rather audible ripping sound. From the force of being shaken, the seams and fibers of the boys jacket had been tearing through, causing a gaping hole to appear where the beast's teeth were clamped down. This gave Yuj a small flicker of an idea. He knew there was a high chance it would go wrong, horribly wrong, but there was also a chance it could go right. At least the kid would still be alive with a few broken bones anyway.

Maqui had heard the cease fire and followed suit, but just as he let up on the trigger, the beasts attention had swung over to him. He let out a shocked gasp and staggered back, falling hard on his backside at the towering creature glaring down at him. Yuj had to wait, his eyes focused on the boy's tearing jacket. Just one more second.

Another small section of the jacket tore, the last weakened strips of fabric threatening to drop the boy. Yuj finally caught his chance and opened a second of fire. Several bullets tore into the beast's shoulder. With a howl of pain, the beast swung its head around so fast that the last threads holding the boy to his jacket had severed. There was a final sound of ripping fibers before the boy, carried by the momentum, flew out of the beast's teeth.

Yuj had luckily been positioned in the correct spot, but he wasn't sure if he had the right idea anymore. The thought didn't have long to sit in his mind however, as a second later, he found himself lying as a human cushion several feet from where he'd originally been standing. The boy, now safely out of the beast's teeth, was sprawled across him and lay motionless. Yuj groaned as a dull pain echoed through his head and noted his lungs were now void of air.

Now that the monster's human shield had been removed, the other two returned to firing at the beast, now too disoriented to tell which attacks were coming from where. With several howls of frustrated pain, it began to stagger backwards, swatting blindly at the bullets. Gadot and Maqui continued to move forward as they drove the beast back towards the forest line. Finally getting the idea that it wasn't going to win, it turned tail and lept back through the trees, leaving behind it broken trunks and a coat of blood splattered on the leaves.

The sounds of the beast fleeing slowly faded back into silence. Maqui had collapsed to his knees. He'd had more than he can handle as far as battling went. Not to mention his machine gun was now out of bullets due to his erratic firing.

"No more..." He sighed wearily.

Gadot had turned his attention to join Yuj and the boy at the other side of the dirt road. Maqui, not wanting to be left alone in case one of the ferals came back, scrambled to his feet and followed.

"You guys all right?" Asked Gadot, trying to stifle a laugh at the sight of Yuj still dazed on the ground.

With a groan and cough, Yuj slowly sat up, causing the boy to slide down and roll over slightly onto his lap. Finally able to breath right, Yuj wasn't sure whether to think his idea had been a stroke of brilliance or nothing but sheer stupidity.

"That was some smart thinkin'." Gadot praised, though by the sound of his voice, he was surprised any such idea could have come from him. "But, I'm not sure he feels the same way about that." He nodded to the boy. Yuj didn't know how exactly to move him without causing any more damage than he probably already done. He grabbed the boy's shoulders and shifted him over so he was sitting up. He was light for someone to be around Maqui's height. Poking out from under the gray cap were tan colored hairs. As Yuj made these small observations, he caught a hint of movement. The boy's eyes slowly opened, dazed and unfocused as he peered up at him.

"Uhh..." Yuj's mind was drawing a blank on what to say. He wasn't sure what exactly could be said in this kind of situation. He didn't get a chance to say anything though, for the next second, the boys eyes closed. The sudden slack in his entire body easily told them that he'd slipped out of consciousness.

"What should we do now?" Asked Maqui, holding the machine gun in his hands like a child might hold a toy. He had forgotten what it really was. Gadot had departed from the group a moment to collect the knapsack which had fallen from the boys grip during the fight.

"Obviously we can't leave him here." Replied Yuj, having moved the boy to lay on the ground so he could stand, clapping dirt of his clothes. With his arms crossed, Gadot had been thinking over their options. Naturally they couldn't leave the kid lying out here. Period. He'd most likely wind up in the same situation they just rescued him from.

"We'll take him back with us." He finally answered. "That's what The Hero would do. Let's clean up here first."

That seemed to be the best and final answer to their situation. Gadot took the liberty of carrying the boy to the airbikes and sat him on Yuj's passenger seat. Yuj followed and looked on in slight annoyance. He wasn't one to enjoy babysitting, then again, he was the one who ended up putting the boy this state. As Gadot supported the boy, Yuj approached the bike rubbing his side where the boy had collided.

"Try not to make him fly off, eh?" He joked. "I think he's had enough."

"Yeah, yeah." Yuj muttered, swinging his leg over the seat. The back portion of the driver seat was a few inches thick and created a sort of boarder between it and the passenger seat, which had too much of an decline to allow the unconscious passenger to sit up by himself. Once Yuj had gotten situated on his hover craft, he took note the boys head was now leaning against his back. He couldn't very well take off without a way to hold him down.

"Hey Maqui," He called over to the younger boy as he climbed onto the passenger seat of Gadot's ride. "maybe you should go through with that seat belt idea."

The blond laughed, having climbed into the backseat of the adjacent hovercraft. After Gadot made quick work of moving the bodies of the dead monsters into the thicket of trees, the bikes were powered on and a second later, the hover wings lowered and the machines lifted off the ground. Looking over his shoulder, Yuj did the only thing he could think of and grabbed the boys left arm with his hand to hold him securely against him.

It was an unvoiced agreement that their flight back this time wouldn't be a race.

~x~x~x~

The airbikes kept their speed steady, for once actually following the speed limit as they cruised their way back towards the cafe. Yuj, having lack of any better idea, was using his left hand to hold the boys arm around his waist. It seemed to be serving good thus far, until he felt something that nearly gave him the frightful guess that his passenger might have been in danger of falling. After a moment, he realized it had only been the arm moving. The boy behind him was stirring.

"Hey, don't move around too much or you'll fall off kid." He warned, chancing a glance over his shoulder. He heard a small gasp from the boy, as though he hadn't realized he'd been there. A small thought of guilt tugged at the back of Yuj's mind. If he ended up causing the kid any form of mental damage, Lebreau would really let him have it.

"You okay?" He asked.

"...Yeah." The boy replied, his voice so quiet it was nearly carried away by the wind. Hearing the higher notes of his reply, the boy must have been younger than he had considered. "We'll be off these in a minute, so just sit tight." Yuj was hesitant a moment before releasing the boys arm. Thankfully, the boy withdrew it, allowing Yuj to return both hands to the steering wheel. A minute or so of rushing wind filled their ears. "So what's your name?" Yuj finally thought to ask. The long pause that followed gave him the impression that the boy might have either fallen asleep or lost consciousness again when he caught the first utterings of word.

"Uhh, Lee -"

Yuj had been so focused on catching the boy's reply that he hadn't been aware the airbike dropped the few feet it was airborne causing the front hull to grind against the road. The entire body rattled a moment and even veered slightly off course.

"Whoops." Yuj offered an apologetic smile to the blond mechanic now glowering at him over his shoulder from the airbike ahead. As Maqui returned to facing forward, Yuj returned to carefully dividing his attention between the airbike and his passenger. Only then did he notice something was gripping either side of his shirt, which was already snug enough around his stomach as is.

"Like I said, hold on." Yuj smiled, though he knew the kid couldn't see it. The boys hold didn't let go until they'd slowly pulled into the small bike lot beside the cafe, where they discovered the boy had fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep.

"So you go out to kill a few monsters and you come back with a kid? That's a first." Remarked Lebreau as she was sitting against the armrest of the sofa in the Cafe's back room. The boy was lying still on the cushions. He hadn't woken up again since they arrived at the cafe. Lebreau held a small cold compress to the boy's forehead, where a bruise had begun forming. Though Yuj had been evidently clear his line of thinking and actions hadn't caused that particular injury, they assumed he'd gotten it during is escape.

"He was being chased by Monsterzilla! We couldn't just leave him." Exclaimed Maqui from his seat on the desk, his tone bouncing between excitement and worry. Lebreau put a finger to her lips to hush the excited boy, who forced himself to sit still where he sat on the desk.

"Well, he's obviously not from around here but to get from the train station to that island, he must have had some bad directions." Lebreau gestured with her hands pointing in opposite directions.

"Or just a bad sense of direction." Yuj humored, leaning against the wall with crossed arms at the opposite side of the sofa. The barmaid raised an eyebrow at him, causing the teen give a small grim smile before looking down.

"Poor kid. He looks like he's had one heck of a day. What was his name?" Lebreau asked, directing the question to Yuj.

"All I heard was 'Lee'." Replied the teen with a shrug, adjusting himself against the wall so his weight was on one shoulder. "I didn't catch a last name."

"Lee..." Lebreau voiced quietly to herself, considering the boy with a thoughtful expression. "Hmm, looks like he's waking up." She announced, craning her neck to get a better look at the stirring person. She was right. There was a faint twitch from around the boy's eyes. She quickly removed the compress as his eyebrows knitted a moment, then slowly his eyes opened, blinking several times as he stared at the ceiling. When they slid into clear focus of the room, his senses returned and he sat bolt upright. With a wince, he clutched a hand to the side of his cap, which was still secured to his head.

"Careful," Lebreau warned, quickly setting a hand on the kid's shoulder and leaning down. "We don't need you hurting yourself any more than you are right now."

He started and looked up to Lebreau, who offered a comforting smile before looking over her shoulder.

"Maqui, could you go get me a bottle from the fridge?"

The boy, knowing what she was meaning, hopped off the desk and exited the room, though he didn't venture too far as the sound of clinking glass could be heard just outside the partially closed door. During this time, the boy on the sofa had been trying to see through the pain of his forehead to see his surroundings. His dark violate eyes took in the warm colors of the tan walls and lights, as well as the cluttered mess of the desk and filing cabinet. For a moment, his eyes were focused on the unused television which sat somewhat lopsided atop a stack of files in the corner.

"You're in the back office of my restaurant." Lebreau answered is unvoiced question. The boy looked back at the barmaid, who was now standing upright before him. Yuj failed at stifling a snort as he could clearly see the boy looking marveled at Lebreau's clothing, or lack there of. Lebreau on the other hand, didn't seem to notice. "So, you from around here, Lee?"

The boy was hesitant to respond, his eyes looking down at the floor as though he either didn't want to answer. Before he had a chance to reply, the hurried footsteps of Maqui entering the room interrupted them.

"Found one." He grinned, holding the bottle forward in triumph as though it were more than just blue glass and liquid. Lebreau accepted the bottle and in turn held it before the boy.

"Drink this, it'll make you feel better." She smiled. The boy looked from the woman to the bottle, deciding the better idea was to trust the woman's word. He took the bottle, stared at it blankly for a moment before cautiously pulling off the cap, the inside gasses releasing with a sharp hiss.

"Least he's kind of okay." Lebreau placed her hands on her hips, watching the boy called Lee take a drink from the bottle. "Can't say the same for his jacket." Though she tried to keep her expression light, she couldn't fight away the feeling that maybe they had a worst case scenario on their hands. Given all the facts, everything was hinting that this boy was clearly where he wasn't supposed to be. She could only assume he'd probably run away from someplace. In any case, it wasn't a question you could ask lightly like asking about the weather.

"Uhh, Leb?" Spoke Maqui, who'd been looking out the door anxiously. "There's some customers..."

"Whoops." Lebreau had forgotten the cafe was still open and it was about time for the afternoon rush. "Tell 'em I'll be right there."

Maqui's expression clearly stated he didn't want to be the one to tell the customers they'd have to wait. Yuj had eased himself off the wall and walked across the room to leave with him, having more experience with customers than he did.

Lebreau pushed aside any feeling of urgency to return to work, instead holding a kind expression and caring words, to which Lee was becoming increasingly shy to."That bump on your head, if you want, I can take a look at it?" Lebreau had raised a hand to the boy's cap, her finger brushing against the bill when Lee let out a small squeak of surprise and clamped his hands over the hat to hold it down. The bottle clattered to the floor and rolled a short distance, spilling its clear contents, and catching the attention of the two leaving.

"Hey, stop torturing the kid, will you?" Yuj scolded, his voice failing to hide the fact he was amused by it all. "It's called personal space and I'm pretty sure you're invading it." While it could have been a matter of the short space between them, another factor to consider was how Lebreau dressed. It was a miracle all the men who visited the cafe didn't downright faint then again that was one of the reasons they might have become regular customers. For a boy looking to be around Maqui's age, the image before him probably wasn't doing to well for his brain. Holding up her hands in surrender, she stepped back from the boy, who had sunk back into the couch, his hands still on his head.

"Sorry, sorry. Put this on it." She laughed, taking a moment to set the cold compress beside him. Lee looked up one last time as Lebreau backed away towards the door. "Just rest in here 'til you feel better." Just before the door behind her, she gave him a wink.

Something about that wink sent a chill through Lee's spine.


	3. Chapter 3

The busy rush of the Bodhum Cafe began to thin out as the sun started to set. Instead of simply returning from another mission with a few minor cuts and bruises, Team Gadot had returned with some extra cargo, which was still hiding away in the back office. Snow, Gadot and a few other members were sitting outside on the open patio, carrying on conversation as Snow relayed his heroic actions during his part mission, albeit exaggerated in some areas. All in all, it wasn't much different than any other time he faced against a monster.

"Still," Snow leaned back in the patio chair. "can't beat what you guys got. Sorry I wasn't there to help."

"Ah, you just wanted to grab all the glory for yourself." Gadot replied, laughing as he propped his elbows on his knees.

A shared wave of laughter rang through the whole group, to which Lebreau, still hanging at her mini-hut roofed bar could only smile at. The flow of customers had slowed to a crawl, which for the Cafe was normal, but all the same boring. The barmaid was again attempting to set up the bottles on the display shelf into a line-up which she could settle on. Stepping back to admire her work, she heard a the small shuffling from beyond the office door.

Upon investigating, she found Lee had been lingering near the door and had accidentally knocked over a stack of files which she caught him in the act of trying to keep them from spilling onto the floor. "You feel fine enough to walk?" She asked, her voice kept in light concern. Lee thought over the question a moment, his arms still outstretched holding the leaning stack of papers, before giving a quick nod. A smile took over Lebreau's lips as she gestured for the boy to come out, to which he hesitantly obeyed. "Well then, come on Lee," she emphasized his name as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder to steer him out into the bar area.

"Let's take a better look at you." She wheeled Lee around, her eyes raking every detail of his body from his gray newsboy cap down to his shoes, which poked out from under a size too large baggy pants. The barmaid clicked her tongue at the sight before her eyes and rotated him around again to see the back. What had her attention the most was the hole in the back of his jacket. She gave a hopeless laugh, watching as Lee looked questioningly over his shoulder, her smile brightened.

"I think this jacket has seen it's last days." Before Lee could protest, Lebreau had taken hold of either side of the open jacket and in one swift pull, whipped it clean off his shoulders. In the momentum of being pulled, Lee was spun back to facing Lebreau, his arms cross over his chest in his failed attempt at holding the jacket. "Yikes, any closer and you could have been cut clean through." She marveled, as somehow the white shirt underneath was barely damaged. She looked over Lee, regarding his appearance closely. "Hmm, looks like you're not the one he was looking for..." She said under her breath. At Lee's quizzical look, the barmaid quickly shook her head, brushing aside the statement.

She began to fold the brown fabric when she felt something stiff inside one of the pockets. She withdrew a common item most citizens carried with them; a credit card. A small gray plastic rectangle with a black dot in the middle, capable of holding countless amounts of money and displaying all its information through holographic images. From the other pocket she revealed what looked to be a tennis ball shaped color puzzle. Lee looked startled at the sight of it, raising a hand, but seemed to have second thoughts of swiping it out of the woman's hand.

"This is yours?" Lee gratefully accepted the card and toy and quickly pocketed it into his jeans. He kept his eyes averted, using the short bill of his cap to hide his face. He stood at Maqui's height so he was only a little shorter than Lebreau, whom had been gazing at him through coy eyes, which soon softened with sympathy.

"Hey..." Lebreau setting a hand on his shoulder by means of comfort. "it's fine to be a little scared. You're just in shock is all. I would be too if I had to run for my life from something unarmed. You're okay here. There's no need to be scared. Gadot and the boss may look tough but trust me, they're harmless. And no monsters are gonna get you here." Her voice was light as she tried to cheer up the boy, but it didn't seem to be working. She let out a small sigh and wrapped an arm around Lee's shoulder to bring him into a sideways hug. Lee stiffened at the sensation of being held close, but made no attempts to free.

"You can stay here as long as you need to to figure out what you wanna do. Well, let's have the boss meet you first." She was quick to get back on a business level of talking. She briskly stepped behind him and began ushering him forward. Lee tried to go where he was being pushed but his feet caught several times from lack of directional steering, on top of catching on his own pants. The walking distance was short, past an alcove which hid a sofa to the left, and a small table to the right. Just outside the wide open door frame was the outdoor patio. The small group who'd been in the middle of reciting an over-told joke stopped at the arrival of the two persons.

"Sorry to interrupt," Lebreau greeted, keeping a firm grip on Lee, who'd been trying to side step away, "But I figured you'd like to meet the new guy, boss. The name's Lee. "

The one she addressed as 'boss' rose to his feet and walked over. Lee had watched this from under the bill of his cap and as soon as he was at his full height, quickly lowered his eyes. Snow had that effect on people, standing at an unusual height for the average man, he towered over the boy and pretty much anyone else he came in direct contact with. Lee gave the impression that he was shrinking as Snow approached, the man's eyes looking over the boy's every detail. He stuck out a gloved hand in greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Lee. The name's Snow. Snow Villiers."

Lee stared at Snow's hand with wide eyes. While not taking it to be a threat, he was clearly intimidated by the size of it alone. Hesitantly, he set his hand over the NORA leader's palm and found it enclosed in a firm hand shake. It only lasted a moment when Snow let go and stood looking down at him.

"So you got yourself into a bit of a rough and tumble with the locals, huh?" He asked, half jokingly. Lee returned to staring at the ground. It seemed as though it was too soon to joke. "Well you're safe here." Snow went on, his voice taking on a serious tone. "This is the headquarters of NORA, can't get much safer than that."

The setting sun burned against the orange sky as it lowered towards the waves in the distance. High above through the veil of stained clouds the lights of the other cities could be seen shining through, progressively growing brighter as Cocoon's light was slowly fading to night. A few beach goers strolled along the shoreline at a peaceful pace, enjoying the cool air and the sound of the ocean in the last of the fal'Cie's rays. It was this time of day that gave Bodhum its signature sunset which drew in tourists.

The new guy, Lee, had managed to separate himself from the group of rowdy NORA members on the outdoor patio. Lebreau had tried offering him a drink or something to eat, which he had first refused but in the end accepted a colorful bottle of soda, which he held undrunk in his hand. The other gently tested the bruise on his forehead. He hadn't tried leaving as he didn't want to draw more attention to himself than he already had done. The other members had made an attempt to talk to him, trying to coax out a reply or two but eventually realized he wasn't in any mood to have a conversation. They credited it all to the situation the boy was finding himself in. After all, he did just escape from a life or death situation.

"So, boss," Murmured Gadot as he'd been eying Lee from across the patio. "What's the plan with him?"

Snow had been reclined in the lounge chair, idly rotating a glass in his hand, swirling its contents. By the dreamy expression on his face, he mind was clearly preoccupied with non-NORA related things. His mind had registered Gadot had spoken but hadn't absorbed the words he had said. In the last wisps of thought, his mind finally caught on. He turned to gaze at the boy before looking back ahead.

"Same thing we've done with the other misfits we've run into. If he wants to stay he can."

"And if he doesn't?"

Snow let out a laugh through his teeth, "I doubt Leb will let him go running off again." He grinned.

"Probably not." Gadot agreed. "She'd send us right after him." He mused over his beverage for a moment. This was the first time in a while they'd had a case like this. Their group had gained a few members over the months that had passed mostly due to the fact they acted as a sort of club for boys. Only a small handful had either rebellious and left their home, or had come from an orphanage and found a niche within their group. Lee's background was a mystery. If he'd come from an orphanage, he looked to be of Maqui's age so he'd be able to legally live on his own. If he came from a family, that at that moment could be out looking for him, then that brought up a whole new mess of possible problems. The answer would come out when the boy felt like talking.

"So Lee," Began Snow, tired of the quiet that had settled over their part of the group. The boy turned his head, his eyes showing quiet alarm to the fact he had been called. "Where ya from?" Lee turned back to the ocean view, then gazed solemnly down at the bottle in his hands. The ocean waves and bird calls filled the silence again. "Uhh...Syracuse?" He suggested, "Nivea?" He was throwing out the names of Cocoon towns and cities. "Nicole...Kyrus?" The boy wasn't responding to any of them. "Palumpolum-" Lee's head perked up slightly. "Ah." Hummed Snow, glad he'd gotten a response. "That's a place I haven't been to in a while. Man, I miss that arcade."

If Lee had any chance of responding, he lost it. Their conversation was cut through by the sounds of multiple footfalls on the wooden flooring as several boys stumbled into the patio, two of which were Yuj and Maqui. They were carrying on a loud conversation which instantly lightened the heavy mood that had settled in the area.

"Man, that mission sounded so cool." Sighed one of the younger boys with a mop of brown hair. "I wish I could go."

"You're not old enough, squirt." Teased Yuj as he ruffled the boys hair in a Snow-like manner. "You gotta graduate from Gadot's training school first." Gadot didn't really have a school, but for the greenhorns of NORA, they needed to lose some of their rough edges before they could really handle any of the scouting missions the older members took. The boys crowded the seats as the patio lit up from the hanging lights overhead, almost as though it was a party of some sort. The first real signs of liveliness that evening.

For the most part, Lee was ignored, having moved himself several paces further down the railing to put distance between them. It seemed to suit him better as he was in his own world and ignored their cheerful banter and jokes. His violet eyes were focused on the horizon, watching the changing colors when he was suddenly in a semi-choke hold around the shoulders, which nearly knocked him back off his feet. He let out a gasp as he found the arm belonged to the only NORA member so far to wear a pink long sleeved shirt; Maqui. They stood at the same height, thus when Lee turned to face him, he was looking at him eye to eye. He had been laughing at something.

"C'mon, Lee, join the fun!" He laughed, steering Lee around while under his arm and pulling him back towards the group. Lee had been unable to turn correctly and tripped over the foot of an empty chair. The two staggered a bit in an attempt to catch themselves. This got the attention of the other boys for a moment. Maqui was still set on getting Lee to join the group, keeping him trapped under his arm as one of the other members returned to telling a thrilling story.

Yuj hadn't taken a seat and instead had been leaning on one of the tables while enjoying a beverage from an orange and green bottle. While he'd been talkative earlier, he decided to fall back and listen instead to the other boys. He'd been the only one who watched the entire scenario between Maqui and Lee, having been thinking pessimistic thoughts about Maqui's 'brilliant' idea to force the new guy out of his shell. It wasn't new that Lee seemed to be a rather awkward person. He was probably not used to this amount of hyper activity. He'd been keeping his head down, using his cap to hide his face again. It seemed to be a sort of security blanket for him. Maqui, still with his arm around Lee, hadn't noticed his half-hearted attempts to lean out of the hold.

Something seemed to speak up within the back of Yuj's mind. "Hey," He snapped, leaning in and grabbing Maqui by the back of his oversized headphones. "Mitts off the new guy." He gave a firm yank which dislodged Maqui from his tight hold he had had on Lee. Regretfully in the process, Lee had almost been pulled back with him, but caught himself against the table. Maqui was adjusting his headphones back over his ears with an apologetic expression.

"Geeze, how many times do I have to tell you about personal space?" The blue-haired boy scolded him, giving him a hard rap on the head. Maqui took this in a joking stride and just laughed.

"S-sorry about that." He smiled feebly. Lee had been fixing the hat on his head, as though fearing it had moved a fraction of an inch, looking unsure whether to be angry, accept the apology or feel a combination of both on top of feeling humiliated. Unable to think of anything, he did the only thing that came to mind.

"Uh, wait!" Maqui had started, but his words fell on deaf ears as Lee had squeezed through the group of boys and disappeared back into the bar area. His retreating footsteps slowed as he didn't know where to go from there. He stopped at the end of the bar counter and put a hand to his forehead, where the ache of the bruise had sharpened.

"Did they get too noisy for you?" A kind voice asked behind him. Lee turned around to see he was staring through a display shelf of bottles, but through the spaces he could see what looked like a cash register computer and Lebreau looking over at him. At the sight of his lowering head, Lebreau smiled. "That's normal for them. You'll get used to it." Lee looked back at Lebreau before slowly taking a few steps until he was at the counter.

"You wanna get a bandage for that?" Lee shook his head, though his wincing eyes told he regretted the action. "You're cute, y'know that?" A smirk turned up her lips as she peered at the boy. Lee looked both confused and embarrassed. "I'm jealous," Lebreau went on with a sigh as she leaned on the counter. "You're pretty enough to be a girl, kind of like someone else here." She added the last bit, though the joke flew over Lee's head. Instead, Lee looked mildly alarmed at the comment. "So you met the guys. Well some of them. There's seventeen members in NORA, but they're mostly boys. They have no other way to direct their rebellious phases so it's a good outlet. There's three other girls. "

Lee had relaxed at this change in topic, allowing his eyes to wander over the display case of bottles.

"I'm going to run on the assumption that you've run away from home and don't have anywhere to stay tonight. Am I right? Ah-hah." The barmaid laughed. "Well, you're more than welcome to stay with one of us for the night. It's not like it'll be a bother on anyone. Let's see, you'll be rooming with one of the other boys. Gadot, Snow and a couple others have their own places, so you'll have plenty of options to chose from." She leaned over slightly, trying to see Lee's face. A look of concern had changed his thoughtful expression. "Unless...that's uncomfortable ...?"

For the first time since he'd arrived, Lee looked as though he wanted to say something, a look of urgency taking over his fair features. But, speaking of the boys, the group that had been playing around in the patio had gotten up and begun to migrate towards the stairs down to the beach. Lee and Lebreau had stopped their conversation but only the latter had turned to watch them. Lee kept his eyes focused on a bright green bottle sitting on the counter looking as if he was thinking 'if he didn't see them, they didn't see him'.

"Why don't you go follow them?" Lebreau suggested. "They're probably just going to go hang down by the water."

Lee looked looked questioningly over his shoulder at the departing boys.

"It's something a boy would do..." Added Lebreau in a casual manner, returning to cleaning the dust off a maroon bottle. Looking back to where the boys had disappeared down the steps and off to the right, Lee's first steps were hesitant as he followed.

By the time Lee had descended the steps onto the sandy ground, the boys he'd been following had decided to linger around the pair of parked airbikes down the stretch of beach to the right. Lee hadn't taken notice of them yet, his eyes focused on the ground were the tips of his shoes were partially obscured by sand. He gave a small fidget to one, marveling at the otherwise natural occurrence before following the messy footprints in the sand. He could hear the boys jeering as they had gotten into a sort of fight, but above that was the roar of the ocean and the screeches of the seabirds. He walked past a small flock pecking away at the sand, startling them a few feet away, but they were so humanized that they didn't much mind a human walking so close. They even followed him a few paces but stopped when they realized he had no spare food to give them.

Looking ahead, he noted the barrier of rocks just behind the airbikes, which looked somewhat ominous as though giving a warning not to go past them. Once he was within a good few meters of the group, he sat down on the small elevated lawn of grass that stretched along the beach. Behind him was a thicket of trees and shrubbery and a red roof to what could be some sort of shed, behind that was a towering metal wall. He could only guess it was the rail line or something of the like. Still taking in his surroundings, he looked over to the left, where dark colored buildings lined the shore behind the metal wall. They seemed far too large to be residential homes, they were some kind of business. Maybe something like Palumpolum which had an extensive market. Lastly, when looking out at the ocean, one couldn't easily ignore the strange structure of a building that obstructed the horizon. It was connected to the shore by a long dock and the building itself was topped by a clear glass like roof. Lee had no idea what it could be for but it must have housed something of interest.

"Hey, new guy!" Shouted a voice from his right.

Seeing as how Lee was the only 'new guy' that was near the group, he immediately guessed just who that call was being directed to. When he turned his attention to them, he noted Maqui was waving enthusiastically for him to join their group. Finding he couldn't run back to the cafe after having followed them, Lee rose to his feet and timidly walked over until he stood just outside the small cluster.

"So this is the new guy?" Asked one of the boys who'd taken a seat on the ground. He was tall, even though he was sitting, with blond hair long enough to tuck behind his ears. "Man, what was he doin' way out there?"

Lee flinched when Maqui moved, thinking he was going to find himself under another arm hold, but Maqui only raised a hand to adjust his headphones.

"He was being chased by a pretty mean boss." He replied in Lee's stead. There was a short moment of laughter at how Maqui sounded as though he'd been the one to singlehandedly take down the so called 'boss'.

"So where'd ya come from?" Asked another boy, this one had short coppery brown hair, tanned skin and a strong jawline. Lee had kept his head down, not enough to hide is face but enough to point out he wasn't on speaking terms yet.

"Well, ya ended up here with NORA." Said the first boy, brushing off the lack of reply. "Act tough like the rest of us and you'll move up a rank or two from 'newbie'."

"Like you're one to talk." The last boy with black hair had given the one sitting down a shove with his shoe. The latter boy protested and in seconds was on his feet. The other quickly adopted a fighting stance and a small scuffle broke out as the blond grabbed the black haired boy in a headlock. The others moved aside as they watched the small match and laughed, cheering on who they thought would win. It must have been normal for these two to often fight with one another.

"Wanna see something cool?" Maqui had turned to Lee, his boyish face lit up in a grin. He moved outside the group, motioning Lee to follow. He was lead around to the other side of the airbike where the mechanic pointed proudly to a luminescent green symbol on the motor of the craft. Lee was unable to find a connection, staring at the word "NORA" blankly. Maqui made a point to lift his right arm and rotate, showing the same symbol splashed on the right side of his jacket. Now Lee understood, looking from the jacket to the one on the motor. It was a sort of brand; signed proof that Maqui had done something to whatever he worked on.

"Pretty sweet, huh?" He asked, taking no effort to conceal his pride. Though Lee didn't say anything, the curiosity now displayed on his face was enough to say he was impressed. He looked up and down the entire craft, taking in its hover wings, the engine and the navigation gadgets mounted on the steering handles. "What, you've never seen an airbike before?"

Almost as though he was ashamed to admit it, Lee shook his head.

"Well I guess you wouldn't. These aren't really used in the bigger cities, if you came from there that is." Maqui scratched the back of his head under his goggle strap. "I've been having to fix this one up because someone," He shot a glare over the craft to the boy with blue hair. "likes to see how much damage he can do to one airbike in an hour." He tried to remain angry but the expression dissolved into another smile and short laugh.

The silence that emanated from Lee was becoming a normal occurrence. Though it was awkward, Maqui felt he could understand what Lee was going through. He hadn't been much of a social butterfly in his past. After he lost his parents he wasn't one to boldly jump into conversation. Lee's past was a mystery, but it was clear to everyone that something had gone so horribly wrong that he'd had to leave his home. It was natural he would be so closed up around complete strangers.

"Listen," He started, lowering his voice to keep the conversation personal. "I used to be like you." Lee looked at him, his attention caught at these words. "Well not exactly but... I mean when I first joined NORA, I didn't talk to anyone either. Growing up, I didn't have too many friends. I guess I just wasn't someone people wanted to get to know. They thought I was too...'geeky'. " He leaned against the stationary craft. "But after a while, I learned these guys are okay. They're always there when ya need 'em, a lot of times when ya don't." He rested his hands behind his head. "If you choose to stick with us, you won't regret it. Trust me. I mean look at-"

"Don't start talking his ears off with your Snow obsession." Yuj's voice cut through their conversation. He'd been leaning on the opposite side with his hands casually laced behind his head.

"I do not have a Snow obsession!" Maqui's voice broke slightly as he retorted and twisted around.

"You follow him around like a puppy as soon as he shows up anywhere. When he's not around you talk about him," As he spoke, Yuj stepped onto the foot platform of the aircraft and leaned over to grab the bridge Maqui's goggles. He gave them a pull, causing the young blond's head to pull forward. "I think you're in love." He let his finger slide out from under the bridge, resulting in the goggles snapping back crookedly over Maqui's eyes.

"Oow!" He exclaimed, grabbing at the goggles to move them back to relieve the sudden sting they had brought. If it was possible, Maqui's hair looked vibrantly yellow compared to the red that had taken over his entire face. Yuj had been laughing at the blushing boy's reaction when another unexpected sound had overlapped his. The two looked up, Maqui through his crooked goggles, to find Lee had turned to face the airbike with his hands clapped over his mouth, his shoulders shaking.

Lee was laughing.

Maqui forgot about the sting around his eyes and slid his goggles back to their place on his blond head. As he did so, he began to laugh as well. Only his was oddly more awkward, as though he were shy of being laughed at by Lee. Yuj, who had still been leaning over the seat, using the steering handle to keep himself from leaning too far. He couldn't help but notice something about that laugh. He only let out a half-hearted laugh before scratching the back of head head and hopping off to the other side of the motorbike.

If it was possible, the air seemed to lighten around the two now left standing, as though the tension has released in that moment.

"Hopefully I'll be able to get this one running again tomorrow." Maqui continued, his face now returned to its normal color as he patted the side of the airbike. "It's kind of painful to see it in this shape. Even if it's not that big of a deal. Maybe they'll show you how to fly it." Lee looked surprised as he looked at the airbike as though it were about to spring to life right at that second. Maqui had stepped onto the left side foot platform and sat himself in the seat. "I usually don't fly these, I leave that to Gadot and Snow. But I know my fair bit around them." He sat up to fumble with something just in front of the navigation control that was mounted onto the handlebars.

"Uh-"

"It's not hard, y'just gotta - whoops!" His arm had knocked into a tub of something that had been sitting on the top of the hood. He had forgotten it was there and by the time he went to grab for the container, it's liquidy black contents had spilled over.

Right onto Lee.

Even the ocean seemed to fall silent. Maqui was sprawled over the engine's motor, his arm outstretched in his failed attempt to grab the bucket. The other boys had moved around to see what had happened. Lee hadn't moved, he looked too stunned to do anything other than feel the sticky black oil flow down from his head down the side of his body. Part of his face was now masked as he'd been unable to turn away from the falling oil. He didn't even seem to notice the bucket was overturned onto the side of his head.

"Nice going, ding-bat." Remarked Yuj as Maqui slid off the airbike. He seemed just as stunned as Lee, his apologetic pleas cutting off as he stumbled to find what to say. He grabbed the sides of the oil bucket and pulled it off. In the process, he had latched onto Lee's hat.

"Ow!" He shrieked. A second later, Maqui was holding both the bucket and Lee's hat in his hands, looking on as Lee's hands had reached up too late to save his cap. A tumble of tan hair fell messily through his fingers.

Or rather.

Through her fingers.

"Well that's the last time I let her follow you guys anywhere." Lebreau scolded as she handed the girl on the sofa a clean towel for her face before her tone switched. "Here you go, sweetie."

"It was an accident!" Maqui repeated for what must have been the twentieth time.

"Well of course it was. I doubt you'd go throwing rancid oil on anyone." The barmaid put in as she turned to face the group.

They had brought Lee back to the cafe, but the three boys had left Yuj and Maqui to deal with Lebreau's anger. She had been upset, but was more so amused over the natural confusion over the new situation. After Lee's hat had been removed, the mess of shoulder length tan hair she'd been hiding under it had fallen out. It seemed this was the first and only obvious clue needed to prove that Lee hadn't been a boy.

Overall, the men felt rather idiotic for having not noticed anything before. They had accepted Lee's appearance, further solidified by the fact that she hadn't said a word since arriving and had she spoken, her voice would have most likely betrayed her disguise. Now here sat a young girl, wearing a clean spare shirt that read 'Bodhum Cafe' across the front, but the oil stains were still prominent on her hair and jeans, accompanied a smell that mimicked Maqui's. She had buried her face into the clean towel.

"So you knew who she was and decided not to mention it?" Gadot shot at Lebreau, crossing his arms and trying for an angry attitude, though the grin taking over his face told otherwise.

"I was waiting to see if you guys would notice, but I guess you're a lot more dense than I thought." Lebreau laughed with an exasperated wave of the hand.

"You coulda said something. It's not like we were gonna laugh at ya for it." Snow grinned, his statement aimed at the girl as he'd been leaning against the threshold to the patio area. He, like Gadot, found it easy to laugh at himself for being so easily fooled.

Leanna looked as though she admitted defeat in trying to remain quiet. While in the process of trying to blot the oil from her hair, she paused, still holding the towel to the side of her head.

"I..." Her voice was soft and sounded thoroughly exhausted. "I felt too embarrassed to say anything. I didn't think I'd be staying here, so it didn't matter."

"What, you were planning on running back out there like this?" Questioned Lebreau as she promptly sat down beside her, looking directly into the girl's face though the latter didn't want to make eye contact. "Usually I don't say this to girls, but that's the kind of move a bone-head like these guys would make." Lee lowered her head. Lebreau looked up to Snow. The words had an obvious impact on Lee as she had closed her eyes and hung her head, her hair hiding her eyes. Lebreau heaved a sigh, leaning down slightly to get a clearer look of her face.

"So, what do you wanna do?"

Lee was quiet, before she slowly raised her shoulders in a shrug. Lebreau turned to the others in the room and jerked her head, signaling that it was better that they leave. As soon as the last footfalls faded into ocean filled silence, Lebreau looked back to the seemingly shrinking girl on the sofa. Glancing down at her lap, she noticed several small drops of water had stained her pants. The barmaid gently wrapped an arm over the girl's shoulders, pulling her in so Lee's head rested against her shoulder.

"C'mon, you can stay at my place tonight."


	4. Chapter 4

A peaceful morning had settled over the Bodhum Cafe. While a few customers had flocked in and out, the real business flow wouldn't pick up for several more hours. Lebreau had left her station at the bar to lean against the door frame to the patio. There, the other senior members of NORA had been carrying on small conversation about this and that, all the while unable to ignore the matter that loomed over them.

"Couldn't get anything out of her last night?" Asked Gadot from his seat. Lebreau shook her head with a frown. Truth be told, the only thing she could get out of the girl was her full name, which didn't lead anywhere to what her situation was. She couldn't bring herself to ask anything more.

"Well, " Began Lebreau, leaning off the threshold and taking a few paces forward, "we can't jump to any conclusions. I'm still not sure what to think." Lebreau took a short breath as she collected her thoughts. "Considering how she showed up in the middle of nowhere, was very confused and wearing clothing that I doubt she normally wears, everything's pointing to a run-away. I haven't any missing persons reports though."

"Those take a couple days to start up. They usually wait don't they? To see if their kid will come back on their own?" Suggested Snow, his chin rested against his fist in thought. "Unless this isn't the first place he's been to. He could be from anywhere in Cocoon."

"There is a chance..." Said Lebreau, her voice hesitant to voice the thought.

"That maybe he's from a Sanctum facility?" Gadot finished her sentence, raising his eyebrows with a shrug. "He could be out legally."

"She." Lebreau corrected. "Lee-anna. Is a girl."

Gadot laughed. "She," He emphasized. "might not have anyone looking for her at all."

"But it doesn't make any sense... I'm pretty sure the Sanctum sends orphans off better than that. Unless things have changed since we left?" Lebreau crossed her arms with a hand to her chin in thought. On that note, their conversation tapered off, leaving them to sit and turn over the information in their heads.

Lebreau had been gazing over into the bar where the girl they had been speaking off, Leanna, was leaning against the far end bottle display case, gazing down at the floor with a hand to her neck. The cap, which had a faded dark stain across the front half, had once again been placed firmly on her head. Only instead of concealing her hair, Lebreau had offered to braid it so from the front, it wasn't too obvious. . The girl had her own sets of clothes she'd packed in her dufflebag, but after such a rough journey, Lebreau had suggested to give them a good wash first. The clothes she wore now were from her own closet, and surprisingly they covered more skin than most of the things the barmaid preferred to wear.

The girl's eyes had slowly been wandering to where they'd been sitting, and upon making eye contact she hastily looked away. Lebreau could only give a one sided smirk at that.

"So the chances of them finding her here would be...?" Voiced Snow, breaking their thought filled silence. Lebreau gave a short sigh, her mouth shifting slightly to the side in a thinking manner.

"We don't know if someone's looking for her for starters. It's not just something you can easily ask like," She pitched her voice up with enthusiasm. "'Hey! Should we worry about people finding you?'" The facade dropped an instant later, though the others were still chuckling at the humor. "I'm more worried about what we should do if they find her, whoever 'they' is. She left for a reason, but we can't just force her to stay, that's called kidnapping and that's bad." She waved a pointed finger to the ceiling.

"If she wants to go back, we don't have any say in stopping her." Replied Gadot.

"And if she doesn't, she'll be forced to go back and..." Lebreau's voice trailed away. She couldn't say for sure what would happen after that. "So, what should we do?"

The group took a moment to weigh their options.

"I say," Began Snow. "we shouldn't worry about it until something actually happens. Otherwise we'll be thinking about it non-stop when we could be doing better things. We'll just treat her like one of the gang. Eventually she'll decide what she's doing."

"True words of wisdom," Mused Gadot. "Better go write this moment down on the calendar, Leb."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Retorted Snow through a laugh.

Lebreau shook her head at the maturity of the two men she called her friends.

"Finally more girls on this team." She sighed. "I was getting tired of all this testosterone." She added, giving a laugh and walking back towards the bar.

~x~x~x~

"This is a bad idea. I should turn around and go back right now and pretend none of this ever happened," She told herself again and again, yet she didn't go back. She thought - hoped - that if she got herself here, she would see how crazy her thoughts had been. That this was impossible and she'd never again entertain the thought of leaving. But as she stood there clutching her stuffed dufflebag none of those thoughts came.

Nothing.

Maybe...just a little further. A little further.

"And this is where I end up," Leanna muttered under her breath, clutching a bottle against her like it was some sort of comfort item. The exhaustion from the previous day left her feeling tired, if she wasn't careful she'd doze off right where she stood. But the headache from the stress as well as the forehead injury was counteracting it to keep her in a state of empty awareness.

The idea had started out so innocent. It started as a simple trip to get away from the house, to get somewhere, anywhere. Somehow it ended up with a tour around Palumpolum, to be around people who didn't know or care who she was. Then as though she'd been manipulated by an outside force, she went even further away. Farther and farther, through the town, through the station, on the train. Just a little farther, she consoled herself, then I'll go back.

Finally, her conscience had returned from whatever break it had been taking and was causing quite a fit in her mind to return home. But at the same time the opposing side of her thoughts weren't backing down. The feeling of being torn was rising. A similar feeling of mixed frustrations and impatience to rush her stressed mind for an answer. If it was possible, her mood had gone from bad to abysmal in that instant, but she felt far too tired to give it any special attention.

"-na?...Leanna!" Her train of thought was broken by a hand waving several inches from her face forcing her vision to slide back into focus. Lebreau had been looking down at her, with an expression clearly showing she'd been calling her with no response. "If you like that bottle so much, you can keep it, I have more."

Leanna gripped the teal bottle tighter upon realization, locking it in a choke-hold. "Oh, s-sorry." She stammered, quickly handing over the bottle to the barmaid. Lebreau looked at her with an arched brow, having to look down as she was standing atop a short step ladder. She let out a short breath as she leaned against the shelf. She'd hoped something like unpacking bottles would distract the girl's mind but it didn't seem to work, but it was better than standing like a statue in front of the bar.

"So you head over here from Palumpolum and end up faced with a life or death crisis. What a lousy way to start a vacation." The barmaid continued their previously tapered off conversation. "You looked like you had it all planned out from the brochures in your bag." She looked over her shoulder but found the girl had spaced out again, her eyes weighed down by whatever was troubling her.

"I know there's a lot going through your head right now. But it's not good to keep so many things bottled up." She dangled the bottle for emphasis and winked. "Kind of like what happens when you shake a soda, it won't end well if things build up too much. I'm always here if you need an ear."

Leanna seemed to just barely tune in to what Lebreau had said, but offered a grateful smile all the same. She handed over the bottle and retrieved another from the case.

"Okay...next one?" Lebreau asked, holding out her hand. When the cold glass touched her hand, she looked down. There was something wet splashed over the lid and down the side. Looking past the bottle, she could see what had caused it. Leanna stood facing Lebreau, her head angled down but the tears clearly visible as they streaked down her face. Lebreau was quick to step down from the step stool and carefully raised the girl's head.

"Oh, sweetie! You don't need to cry. " She spoke hastily, grabbing a clean hand towel from under the counter and holding it to Leanna's face until she took it herself. She gave herself a good mental fist to the forehead before sighing at the sight before her. Whatever was going on, Lebreau knew it wasn't as simple as a vacation gone wrong. Unless this girl was just far too sensitive...

"I'm sorry, I know it's hard for you right now." She started softly. "You can cry as much as you feel you need to. But you should know, you're with good people now." She comforted. "There's no pressure to make any decisions right now. There's no problem with you staying here. And if there is, I'll deal with it. Now, why don't you go to the back office and take a break, you haven't been looking really alert all morning. Can't have you falling asleep standing up."

Leanna could only manage a thankful smile as she held the towel to her face. Her headache had managed to triple in those few moments.

"That's more like it." Lebreau smiled.

~x~x~x~

Their faces were blank. Like sheets of black paper. But plastered across them were smiles. They weren't happy, the smiles were evil. Taunting. Their figures were shadowy and out of focus, like the embodiments of the darkness that sat and the edges of his mind. They contrasted painfully against the white background. He was moving, being set down, his vision only able to see from their waist up as they towered over him. He watched as they began to turn, almost as if in slow motion, and started walking away. Something was making a repetitive sound in the distance, each echo growing louder. He wasn't able to move, or he couldn't move fast enough. He reached out a hand opening his mouth to call after them but no words came out. They were becoming smaller. The noise was getting louder. The images suddenly began to dissolve, fading away into a blanket of darkness.

It took his mind a moment to realize what was going on. He was lying on his back, the bedsheets twisted around his legs from having kicked them off in his sleep. His hand, while so vividly had been held out trying to reach for the figures, was lying numbly at his side. Groggily, he reached his other hand to the side table, his fingers searching a moment before gripping a small device and bringing it to his face. He looked at the blurry numbers on the screen with glazed green eyes as his thumb pushed a button to silence the alarm. With a groan, he allowed his hand to fall over his stomach. The room was quiet, filled with still morning air as light was shining through the cracks in the curtains.

Why do I always set it so early...

Feeling was returning to his body, which was an unpleasant consequence when it's snapped awake abruptly from a deep sleep. The cold sensation was melting away, though the one planted right in his chest seemed stubborn to leave. Deciding he didn't feel like returning to slumberland, he pushed himself up and propped his weight on his arms. He paused a moment to take in a deep breath before sliding his legs out from the knot of sheets and touched them to the dark colored rug under his bed, which saved him the shock from feeling the cold tile floor of his room. He rested an elbow on his knee and ran a hand through the mess that was his bangs.

His eyes were trained on the floor, though his consciousness wasn't seeing it. For an instant, it was as though his mind had shut off again, leaving it in an empty stupor before being awakened by a sound at the foot of his bed. What had been a motionless lump had moved, stretching four small paws and opening its mouth in a meowing yawn, green eyes blinking from the tan fur that made its face. A small laugh escaped Yuj as he looked over at the small drowsy cat.

"Morning Dij..."

After having gotten dressed and traveled the short distance from the suburban islands to the more business centered, Yuj hadn't said much to anyone once he arrived at the cafe. All motivation to talk had been left at home. While it wasn't like him to remain on the quiet side, his change in demeanor wasn't enough to cause anyone any sort of concern. He hung around Maqui's work table on the back patio of the building, listening to the boy's ramblings though his words went in one ear and out the other. The calm rush of the ocean waves against the shore created a sort of white noise that allowed his mind to dull. The occasional chirp of a passing bird and Maqui's clinking as he worked were all that vaguely registered.

It was another dream. No, a memory. He wasn't sure if it was real or if his mind had fabricated it to comfort itself in the missing pieces. Either way, it was a dream that often visited him. It was always the same two figures, a man and woman, looking down at him with deceitful smiles on their faces. Then they began to walk away, slowly disappearing into the distance. No matter how hard he shouted after them, they never turned around.

A memory of being left behind? Did all orphans have these kinds of dreams?

With his arms folded, he watched a few of the younger NORA boys chase one another in the ocean surf, laughing without a care in the world. Yuj felt a small sting of jealously, wishing he could be that carefree. Wait until they grow up and life kicks in, he thought sullenly. His mind zeroed in as Maqui started a new story of something that had happened some nights ago in Snow's house, where he roomed with two other members.

"So then Acai asked who would win in a fight; a Flanitor or a Flandragora. He and Guy got into a fight over it that lasted half the night. I can't believe you can actually eat those things. I wouldn't taste one even if you paid me.." Yuj raised a brow at the boy's mutterings, finding it vaguely amusing though he felt no need to voice the opinion. He could probably leave and Maqui would be none the wiser, continuing his story to thin air. It seemed to be a way for him to concentrate on his gadget, whether anyone was listening or not.

"I'm...just gonna head over here." Yuj announced with little effort to raise his voice. He leaned off the railing and moved towards the front of the cafe. As he guessed, Maqui hadn't heard him as he was still going on about what Guy then did to Acai that resulted in an injury and some property damage. He took a new perch against the post near the stairs, pressing his shoulder against it as he continued to watch the ocean. Even after years of seeing it, it always held a calming effect. He could hear voices from within the bar, but paid them no mind, thinking them to only be the regular customers.

Releasing a small sigh of boredom, he turned. With both shoulders against the stair post, he now had a view into the restaurant area, slightly obstructed by the outer wall. He scanned the vacant interior until his eyes landed on the bar. What he saw caused a small jolt of recollection to stiffen him for a moment and avert his eyes. Standing behind the bar talking to Lebreau was that girl, Lee. He hadn't seen her since the night before, but given her appearance now, it was hard to believe she had been anything other than a girl. Stupidity was a very blunt sensation to feel. Given her features, she still looked worse for wear. It was only natural, right?

Although everyone had been fooled by the disguise, he felt it was he who had helped solidify it. Everything would have been clearer had he heard her full name, or even stopped to think for that matter. He'd been around enough girls to easily pick one out. Why hadn't he asked for some sort of last name, rather than just excepting 'Lee'. For once, he agreed with Lebreau. He'd been a bone-head. But he wasn't about to tell her that.

It was then he realized his eyes had been so focused on the pair, he hadn't seen Lebreau had taken notice; but it was too late to turn away and feign innocence.

"Hey, what're you doing standing out there?"

"Nothing?" He replied quickly in defense, "Can't a guy stand around where he wants?" He gestured in a sort of shrug.

Lebreau found his sarcastic remark humorous but went on to say, "Read the sign, 'no loitering'." She pointed a finger towards the other side of the room, "Gadot's back with the new order of cases. Why don't you make yourself useful and help bring in the boxes." Behind her, Lee had suddenly taken an interest in something on the back counter. "Don't give me that look." She scolded with a raised brow, bringing his attention back to her, "I don't care if you just got your nails manicured, be a man and help."

"Oi, okay, okay." Yuj surrendered with raised hands before disappearing back towards Maqui's work table. "If I break a nail it's you're fault." He replied, running on with her short joke.

"Honestly," Lebreau muttered, hands on her hips. "I think that boy's just here to be eye-candy. Does nothing but stand around and flirt."

Leanna, who'd been touching the neck of a long bottle, nearly knocked it over in surprise. Her only reply came out as a stammer, her face reddening slightly. Lebreau smiled at her bashful response, "You feel like helping?" She gestured to the direction Yuj had disappeared. "Go ahead, he doesn't bite. His hair might though."

~x~x~x~

Leanna wasn't sure just where she was meant to go, but decided following the direction the one called Yuj had taken was her best bet. Near the stair post, she took the deck to the right, though she didn't have to walk long since as soon as she turned the corner, she had a clear view of red rail lined walkway leading towards a small shed where she could hear the unmistakable sound of an amped up engine. Someone who had a knack for gadgets had been making use of the table in the corner of the closed area and there was an unmistakable scent of car grease, something she'd become all too familiar with and didn't want to meet again. She'd been trying to guess just what all the spare parts were for on the table when voices beyond the walkway pulled her attention.

"So she's finally got you working, uh? Seems like a lot of miracles are happening lately. "

"Hey, I pull my weight around here."

"Yeah, once every blue moon."

"We don't have a moon."

As she walked over the inclined pathway, she passed her hand over the railing. A moment of nostalgia froze her steps. She was no longer seeing the surrounding beach or trees, instead her eyes only saw colored pavement down below. Ahead, she could see a blue dome shaped building surrounded by shops and storefronts. The rush of the people and noise filled the air. She'd missed this place. Walking around the many levels and walkways, spending hours visiting the stores. This town was a maze to those who didn't acquire a map but she'd known the place like the back of her hand. She had her favorite stores and parks to visit, she wondered if she could find them again. Then she would go home.

Suddenly everything flashed back into focus. She wasn't in that city anymore. Everything rushed back to her in an instant, bringing with it the brutal but true fact that things would never be the same again. Had there been a better way to have solved this? Of all things, why had she picked this one?

She sighed, pulling her hands from the railing, severing the sudden upbringings of her sad recollection before she realized she couldn't progress any further. Her eyes quickly focused on the torso of a person standing within an arms distance away. She stiffened, her head jerking back slightly at the obstruction and for a second, winced at a jolt of pain from her forehead.

"Spaced out there a little, didn't ya?" The voice above her head mused. It didn't take too many clues to realize just who had spoken, as she'd heard his voice only moments before.

Leanna had wanted to say something like, 'Oh, excuse me.' But on its exit, instead came out as, "I-oh-wha-." Before any other idiotic stammering spilled out, she clamped her mouth shut and side stepped to allow Yuj to pass. Then, she felt a sudden weight on her head. Moving only her eyes, she saw it to be a hand, which shifted her head slightly.

"Be careful. Might end up walking into a wall if you keep that up."

Leanna looked up at the remark, but he'd already walked past. She was left to wonder why her face was feeling oddly warm, but all thoughts on it were pushed aside as a new thought arose. As she watched the strange boy leave, she could see why Lebreau would have a jab at his hair. Now with a clear look at him, it was nothing more than an organized disarray of short messy layers. She had only realized this after her mind had adjusted to the fact it was a very solid primary color, one of which she'd never seen before on anyone's head save for a few rebellious University boys.

"Hey, Lee!" The voice of Maqui shouted from behind her. The boy had climbed the short flight of stairs, holding a crate on his shoulder in the same fashion as Yuj, though he seemed to be having some difficulty keeping his balance. "Er, I mean...Lee-" He drew out the 'e' as he tried to remember the rest of the name.

"-anna." She took the liberty a finishing her name least the boy blow a circuit under the blond head. "But Lee's fine."

"Oh...yeah." Maqui laughed bashfully. "P-pretty name. Sorry...again...about the whole oil thing" He muttered, his head dropping slightly. Leanna raised a hand to pat the top of her head. She realized when she'd been 'petted' by Yuj, he'd messed up the top of her hair in the process.

"It washed out. No harm done. " She replied in a thoughtful, but hurried voice as she quickly pressed down her hair. The reply caused Maqui to look up in hopeful surprise, before a grin took over his features. Before either of them could make more conversation, an impatient voice called out from behind them.

"Hey! These boxes aren't going to carry themselves!" Shouted Gadot at the top of the flight of steps, lugging three crates under his arms with ease.

"Whoops," Maqui's hasty move caused the crate on his shoulders to rattle. He quickly stabilized it and with another one of his toothy grins and a quick goodbye, he set off past Leanna towards the bar. Leanna watched him as he disappeared inside the open back door, shortly followed by a rather loud, alarming clattering sound of bottles. She blinked, not wanting to imagine whatever mess had just been made.

"So then, Miss 'Lee'." Said Gadot, taking slow steps towards her. Leanna turned in surprise, fighting the reflex to take a step away from the towering man. "Lebreau has you working too?"

Leanna gave a small nod, "I don't mind."

"Workin' for room and board, uh?" Gadot laughed at the last bit. "Anyway, I make most of the trips into town so if you ever need anything, just ask me." He thumbed to himself before taking his leave down the walkway.

"Okay," Leanna replied, her voice barely above a mutter when a thought struck her. "Oh, and thank you-" The words were out before she could stop them. Gadot paused a moment to look over his shoulder. "For...yesterday and...the monster..." Whatever confidence she had in speaking depleted instantly, leaving her to mutter the last of her thanks. Gadot's curious expression turned into a grin.

"It was nothin'." He gestured a wave before leaving. Leanna watched until his fiery hair disappeared around the threshold. What was it with people here and odd colored hair? Was this something normal and she just wasn't paying attention?

Lebreau had briefly told Leanna what she couldn't remember from the night before. Already some bits and pieces were coming back. It seemed too unreal, something that only happened in movies. But the sores and bruises, specifically the one on her head, told otherwise.

"Guess I should thank the other two." She muttered, mentally checking off people to thank on her to-do list while she was here. There was one last crate sitting by the powered down airbike. She approached the crate and crouched town, lifting a bottle and examining it closely. She rotated the glass, stirring the contents inside.

"Keeping things bottled up ..." She mused, recalling Lebreau's words. "I guess, I'm like a bottle then?" She thought as she let out a small breath, feeling strange to feel such a connection with a glass container. She noticed her hands were shaking. She held the bottle close as if it were something fragile. Again she was reminded all at once with her situation and the quieted questions started up again. She felt pressured to make a decision. The side of the glass bottle thunked against her forehead in frustration. With a yelp of pain, she clapped a hand to her head where the bottle had hit uncomfortably close to the bruise. What was she going to do, she thought as she tried to rub away the pain through an onslaught of pained tears.

Just take things one step at a time, said a voice from somewhere in the far reaches of her mind, but it was so clear, she thought someone had been standing in front of her. The words were comforting, resonating from her memories.

"One step at a time, huh..." She muttered. How easy that made things sound.

~x~x~x~

The rest of the day passed by uneventful at best. The rush of beach goers kept the beat of the cafe busy, and soon it was as though another beach party had broken out amongst the youths of Bodhum. Keeping to the corners of the room, Leanna watched the crowd with cautious eyes. She couldn't help but entertain the idea that someone she knew would somehow turn up here. There was certainly plenty of people, but most of them held the air of being a local, or simply there on a tourist vacation.

"I'm telling you, I know nothing of l'Cie," Spoke the voice of Lebreau through the few conversations filling the bar area. Leanna hadn't wandered far from the main room, finding the larger throng of people towards the patio to be intimidating. Approaching the bar, she noticed a rather awkward Snow leaning against the counter.

"What exactly is your sudden fascination with this stuff about?" Lebreau pried, her hands on her hips as she wasn't buying the innocent act. Snow shook his head and waved his hand trying to brush away the topic and change it to something else. "If you're that interested, go to the library. I'm sure even you could find something there. Or better yet, this new thing they have called the internet. I have better things to do than worry about myths and fairytales."

Snow took Lebreau's sarcasm in stride before excusing himself. Leanna watched, still marveling at what genetics could cause a man to be so tall that she didn't notice the oncoming obstacle. With a jarring bump to her head, shoulder and leg, she was shaken from her thoughts and was confused for a moment.

"I'm sorry-" She started quickly, the apology escaping as a reflex until her mind collected itself and saw just what she bumped into. "Oh, you're a post..." She muttered, still confused. "Well, sorry anyway," She tried to recover her composure and continued walking, not aware of someone who'd witnessed the whole event from across the restaurant.

He gave a small laugh.

"-ey, what are you look at, Yuj?" A voice cut across his thoughts and brought his attention back to the other side of the floor.

"Uh, n-nothing." He replied quickly, brushing off his momentary lapse in attention.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hmm? You're saying you want to help around here?" Asked Lebreau the following morning as she sat back in the chair. She had decided to finally sort through the stack of receipts and bills piling on her office desk, a task she'd been putting off far longer than she should have. Grateful for the distraction, she stopped her work to listen to Leanna's request. The girl gave an assured nod, though she still seemed uncertain about the idea herself.

"It doesn't feel right that I'm not doing anything. You're being so kind to let me stay at your house when you could just easily kick me out to a hotel. I feel I should repay somehow. "

Lebreau offered an amused grin, "Most of the time it's like pulling teeth to get anyone to help with the place." She cast a glance to the unorganized layers of papers on her desk and with a sigh, she stood up. "There's better things to do than sorting boring papers. C'mon," Taking Leanna by the shoulders, she steered the girl out of the office, neglecting the bills for yet another day.

The few cases of bottles Gadot had brought the day before was only the beginning of what Lebreau had ordered in preparations for the annual fireworks festival. In order to fit the incoming shipment, the barmaid decided to do a purging of the older bottles from the shelves. She stood on a short step stool clearing a display case in between customers while Leanna knelt on the floor removing forgotten bottles under the counter. The girl paused in her work to cover her mouth, though stifling the sneeze was next to impossible.

"And that will be the ninth time you've sneezed in ten minutes. Are you sure you're okay with cleaning?" Asked Lebreau as she peered down from her step stool.

"I'm fine, really." Leanna sniffled, though it wasn't convincing. Lebreau arched a brow but returned to her cleaning all the same. When Leanna returned to getting the last of the bottles, requiring her to lean quite a ways under the counter, Lebreau allowed herself a brief look of worry. Seeing that the girl was trying to keep herself busy regardless of possibly suffering through it was prompt enough for concern, but slaving through sneezes and dust was better than standing idly around with nothing but thoughts for company.

The task kept them busy in between customers as the morning hours passed by. Before long, a fair stack of old crates and bottles had piled up near the back door of the office.

"I'll have to wrangle some boys into clearing those out when they get back." Leanna heard Lebreau mutter to herself as she clapped her hands together.

Though she had lost count how many times she'd sneezed, Leanna found the task of cleaning to be a good distraction. It kept her thoughts from collecting into the mass of worry, guilt and confusion she'd been dealing with since she'd arrived here. As she'd been clearing away the last of the dust bunnies stuck in the far corners of the shelf, the door to the office opened in a hurried force. The sudden rattle as it hit against the desk behind it in the office caused Leanna to jump. Regretfully, she had still been between the shelves of the counter and the top of her head banged against the wood above her. She slowly slid out, sitting back with a hand to the crown of her head as she looked up painfully to the person who had entered. It was Gadot carrying another case of bottles.

"Man, Leb, don't you think you have enough by now?" He asked scornfully as he set the case on the counter with the others. Lebreau had left her station and was finishing an order for a customer, who was looking questioningly down at the counter where he'd heard Leanna's collision with the shelf.

"I'm not making the same mistake I made last year. Do you know how hard it is to tell a customer you're out of a certain item they want?" She stepped to the towering man and shook a dish rag in his face, causing him to jerk his head back slightly. "That's money out of our pockets and your ammo bucket."

Gadot admitted his defeat of the conversation and finally noticed the girl kneeling on the floor with a hand pressed to her head.

"You got her doing all the work you put off all year, uh?" He commented, noting that she was covered in small patches of dust from head to knee. Lebreau huffed, becoming playfully fed up with the man.

"I haven't been putting it off. I just have a bad time prioritizing." She replied, her hands on her hips as she shot a glare at him. "Some things are more important than others."

"Uh, huh. Like setting up the bottles to be, what was it, 'as aesthetically pleasing as possible'?" He joked, breaking out into a laugh as Lebreau gave a short exasperated sigh and shoved the man. Though he didn't look the type to be easily pushed around, it was clear that with Lebreau, he allowed himself to be hassled at least a little by the woman. The barmaid pushed past the both of them to handle the bottles Leanna had just 'unearthed' from the shelves under the counter.

Lebreau snapped, "The bottles are gonna get hot out in the sun, go get 'em already." Gadot let out a short breath of a laugh at her fiery temper but left out the office door without a word. Leanna felt the small sensation of a smile at what she'd witnessed. Though Gadot seemed to have a hobby in teasing Lebreau, it was all in good nature.

The barmaid had caught Leanna's smile, though Leanna was quick to act as though she hadn't seen anything. It was difficult to hide anything from Lebreau, it seemed, for the maid continued to look at Leanna a moment longer. Leanna sheepishly looked up, but was relieved to be greeted with a warm smile.

"This is...something you do for the fireworks every year then? Like...spring cleaning?" Leanna asked as she finished cleaning the last of the middle shelf. Lebreau leaned against the counter, heaving a sigh that caught a loose strand of hair in her face.

"It's what I should be doing." She replied, "Gadot's right, I put it off for as long as I can. But don't tell him I said that. So, you liking Bodhum so far?" She asked as she stepped back up on the stool and began to set up the new bottles.

"It's nice. It's my first time here so everything's a little overwhelming."

"Well, you've only seen part of it. I admit, my restaurant's pretty amazing but it's nothing compared to the mall. Maybe I'll take you to go see it later."

Leanna's unease at leaving the shelter of the cafe was answer enough to that question. Lebreau gave a short laugh, "You're nose is as red as a tomato. Maybe you should go outside and take a break." She got the reaction she was looking for as Leanna heard her comment and clapped a hand to her nose. "I'm just teasing. But seriously, I order you to go out and take a walk on the beach. You're here for a vacation remember? You shouldn't be working. Go find someone and bug them with questions or something."

Leanna had never been good at bugging anyone with anything and instead chose to explore the cafe. She was here on vacation as Lebreau said.

'Right...vacation. From what?...Everything.'

Was this a vacation? It certainly didn't start out as one. It had started as an escape, just for some fresh air. But labeling it 'vacation' felt like it gave it more of a liable excuse to be here. She was away from the house, even had a packed bag, and she was at a beach. That counted for a vacation right? Either way she looked at it, she wasn't supposed to even be out of the house, let alone the city, and yet here she was. A premature departure for something she'd been planning the last few weeks. All she wanted to do was leave for an evening, not five days before. She could still go back, pretend nothing happened. But part of her was firmly refusing in the thought. What should she do?

She couldn't push away the feeling that no matter how hard she tried, it was hard to hide anything from Lebreau, no matter what it was. She felt guilt for keeping secrets from someone so kind and eager to help, but she wasn't ready to talk, not just yet. Standing near the arcade systems at the back of the room, Leanna looked over the flashing screen displaying the highest score for the game, unsurprised as several names were familiar. So far, Gadot was a few good hundred points above everyone else.

The sound of incoming customers slowly drove Leanna to find refuge outside on the deck which displayed the perfect view of the ocean. It was so beautiful. An endless expanse of water stretching out towards a hazy horizon. Seeing it on television or in pictures was nothing compared to actually standing here. Her mind had wandered away again, her hand gently placed over the back of her neck as she watched the waves rush against the sandy shore. Suddenly, somewhere in the distance she heard a loud clattering of metal objects followed by an exclamation of pain. Blinking in surprise, her mind returned to the present and she looked around for the source of the noise.

~x~x~x~

"Ah, man," Maqui muttered, "Not again." He was kneeling on the floor, his hands reaching out to the many tools and items now scattered on the pavement of the open garage. He'd knocked into the toolbox, which had been sitting dangerously close to the edge of the table. Bolts, screws, wrenches of all sizes and some other items had rolled this way and that, leaving Maqui to scramble around collecting it. He reached out for a wrench just a couple inches from arms reach. Just as he did so, another hand had reached it before he could. Looking up in surprise, he found the hand belonged to Leanna.

"Oh, h-hey," His movement to wave caused a few of the gathered tools in his arms to fall again. Leanna tucked a lock of tan hair behind her ear before crouching down to begin gathering them.

"I'll help." She offered, setting the toolbox upright again. "Are you okay?"

The mechanic had returned to snatching up rolling bolts when her question caught him slightly off guard. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, though he seemed somewhat embarrassed. "I do this a lot. I'm used to it."

"You're used to knocking things over?" Leanna asked with a small skeptical smile. Maqui gave an awkward laugh, suddenly catching what she was hinting at and busied himself with the scattered items.

"So you didn't go?" He asked, caving into the need for conversation. Leanna looked up with a questioning expression. "Oh, I guess not. Seeing as how you're here and all. The guys usually leave on patrol first thing in the morning, I thought maybe you went with them. But now I guess it wouldn't make sense."

The boy was a rambling machine when he was nervous. Leanna only listened as she dropped the handful of bolts back into the tool box in a small sectioned container.

"No," She finally replied, "I think I've had enough monsters for one vacation." Though not too obvious, the smile on Leanna's face gave a sense of ease to the awkward distress between them.

"It was pretty scary," Maqui replied, recalling the event quite vividly, then asked, "Do you remember what happened, at all?" Leanna sat back on her calves, resting dirtied hands on her pants as she thought over the question.

"A bit," She stood along with Maqui in order to help relieve him of the load of tools he'd subconsciously piled into his arms. Taking the few she could easily wedge out of his grip, she set them on the table before going on. "I can remember it kind of like..a slide-show. The rest makes my head hurt so I try not to think too hard. I remember I left the station and got lost, then running and then...did I...fall?"

At this, Maqui let out a nervous laugh, dropping the tools into the box which made a louder sound than he intended. "K-kind of. Ya see, what happened was..."

The next few minutes were spent both cleaning and recounting the tale of Leanna's impromptu rescue. It seemed Leanna's mind had faded over most of the details, so much so the information Maqui gave her came as a surprise. It matched with what Lebreau had told her the night before, though her's was a more summarized version and not filled with exaggeration and action sequences as Maqui's was.

"So...I was almost monster dinner?" Leanna surmised, feeling that if she wasn't already sitting, she would have fallen to her knees in shock. "Then...I was thrown?"

"Yeah," Maqui laughed though he stopped himself thinking it was impolite. "It was kind of funny actually. It was all Yuj's idea, I don't know where he got it from. First he was standing, and then he wasn't." A short breath of a laugh escaped him.

"That explains it then,"

"Huh?"

Leanna's eyes widened slightly as though she wasn't aware she'd spoken aloud. "Oh, this." She turned and lifted the side of her shirt. Stained across the skin of her side was a faded, purple, blotchy bruise. "I was wondering how I got this. I should thank you then,"

Maqui's look of grim shock turned into a blush. "You don't have to. I didn't do anything, other than waste ammo."

"But you were still there." The boy was sweet, thought Leanna. He was clumsy, but a happy person all the same. For a boy who seemingly didn't have friends growing up, he was very friendly regardless. After a long moment of silence, Maqui gestured to the airbike.

"You wanna see what I'm working on?" At this, Maqui moved the conversation onto the airbike he'd been repairing. While the ones parked outside usually suffered from minor damages like oil leaks or dents, this one had gotten itself into a pretty bad mess. One of their last ventures into the outskirts had caused this one to become a chew toy for several monsters. Small dents and scratches covered the entire case as well as the rest of the frame. While they had missed most of the important parts of the engine, some of the damages had reached enough inside to result in Maqui having to spend several hours and a few of Lebreau's hard earned gil to replace the smaller parts.

"And one went right through here all the way through the case. He took out a few good wires." He pointed from the entry point on one side to the other. "I'm surprised this made it all the way back here without falling apart." Leanna took in the detail of the once dent-free bike before her eyes landed on something familiar. Sitting on top of the engine's case was a short container tub, and judging by the dark stains on the side, it could only hold one thing. Following where Leanna's eyes had stopped, Maqui found what had taken her attention. The two looked at each other in short silence before breaking into an awkward chuckle.

"Guess I shouldn't go leaving these up here." Maqui scratched the back of his head. "I'm really-" Maqui had begun to voice his apology when a quick movement caught him off guard. Leanna moved forward, swiping a finger across his cheek.

"There," She held up the guilty finger, stained by a smear of oil she'd touched from the engine. "now we're even." Maqui touched his cheek to find she'd left a long black streak from his cheek to his nose before he let himself laugh. It seemed to be contagious as Leanna laughed with him as well.

Now eager to show Leanna the rest of the machine, he quickly began explaining the damages and how he was fixing them. Leanna knew next to nothing about vehicles but listened with interest all the same. After a while, she'd lost track of time. Maqui had laid back upon a rolling bed, obscured under the airbike as he spoke, asking Leanna every now and then for a tool. Leanna crouched obediently beside him, listening with a curious expression as she idly held onto a wrench. They'd been so preoccupied they didn't hear the entrance of a third person.

"And what are you ladies up to?" Asked a voice Leanna was beginning to recognize. The prompt response was a loud thunk as Maqui had jumped at the sound of Yuj's voice, resulting in his goggles hitting a pipe under the airbike. Yuj gave a short laugh at the predictable reaction as he crossed the garage. In his arms he held two complicated looking machine guns.

"H-hey!" Greeted Maqui with a stammer as he slid out from under the bike and got to his feet. He pouted slightly at having been called a lady but pushed aside the thought. "How'd it go?"

"Nothing amazing as usual." Replied Yuj, setting the two guns on a rack against the far wall.

"It didn't sound like anything big on the military band. Guess that's no surprise." Said Maqui, sounding both relieved and disappointed at the outcome he'd missed.

"Military band?" Asked Leanna timidly as she stood up.

"The boy wonder over here can hack into just about everything. He's got a radio in back set up to pick up military calls in the area. If we're lucky, we handle the problems before the Guardian Corps even get there." Replied Yuj, grabbing one of the lenses of Maqui's goggles and shifting it to the side. The boy gave a modest smile, pulling his goggles back to their original place.

"I can't hack into everything." Then, a rather audible stomach grumble caused him to laugh nervously. Leanna looked down at her shoes with a hand to her nose as if to hide a laugh.

"Guess all this working got me hungry."

"Leb's got something going back at the bar. She told me to come get you guys."

"Ah, sweet!" Said Maqui with an enthusiastic clench of his fists. At the prospect of food, he was the first to leave the garage. Keeping her eyes down, Leanna felt a small wave of relief at Maqui's reaction. He'd mistaken the sound of a hungry stomach for his. She felt an uncomfortable heat settle in her face and had been about to follow the mechanic when she was suddenly stopped by a finger tap on the forehead. It was gentle, but somewhat startling none the less.

"Hey," Spoke Yuj as he did so, "Uh...you got something." He pointed to the bridge of his nose. "right here," Leanna looked completely lost at this and raised a hand to her nose. Was this one of those weird pranks? She had evidently been unaware of the self-damage and fell victim to it again by using the same hand stained with oil to touch her face. Looking at her hand in surprise, she let out a light gasp of shock.

"Well, now you made it worse." Said Yuj through a small laugh, thinking for a moment before reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a folded square of cloth. "Here," He offered it to the embarrassed girl, who, with a hand covering her nose, accepted it quietly. She watched as the boy left with a casual stride, before looking down to the handkerchief in her hands.

~x~x~x~

"Honestly, girl, I thought you'd stay away from this stuff after what happened. " Reprimanded Lebreau as she took a damp dish towel and scrubbed at Leanna's face. Feeling like a child, Leanna scrunched her nose and closed her eyes, wanting to voice she was perfectly capable of washing her own face. When Lebreau was satisfied that the oil blotch, and probably several layers of skin were good and gone, she put her hands on her hips with a pleased smile.

"Starting to get used to it around here?" She grinned, having discovered she'd spent the afternoon with Maqui and not standing around someplace.

As Leanna tenderly rubbed her nose, she nodded. Lebreau flicked the dish towel in the direction of a plate sitting on the counter of the bar. "Help yourself to some before it's all gone. It's a new special I've been wanting to try out and you're all my guinea pigs."

Leanna timidly took what she suspected to be some sort of wrap and found a seat beside the center post of the building. Somehow hours had passed since she'd joined Maqui in the garage and already the sun was nearly gone from the sky. Another day had slipped by and she couldn't help but feel worry over not having found a solution to any of her problems. It didn't feel right to enjoy herself, and yet she was. Listening to the people around her, the other NORA members laughing and joking, it brought a feeling of warmth to her. Back home, everything was so quiet.

As the evening went on, Leanna realized she wasn't as uneasy around all the people as before. The thought of finding someone familiar here was slowly fading, replaced by a sense of ease. That she was around friends. She found it strange that this feeling was so foreign to her. She was even able to join in on a few conversations, so long as she kept her replies vague which satisfied the others all the same.

"See, it's not so bad once you get used to it." Replied Lebreau as she leaned against the post beside Leanna.

"So everyone in NORA is like a family? Regardless of where they came from?" Leanna asked. Lebreau crossed her arms and smiled, as if she was the proud mother of all of them.

"Mm-hmm. I'm not sure how it got to be that way but...I wouldn't have it any other way." Lebreau looked down at the girl. A look of distant sadness had taken over her expression as she watched the others.

"Got any family back home?" She asked gently, doubting for a moment that asking at all was a good idea. Leanna replied with a slow shake of her head. Lebreau smiled, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Well, you have one here."

Leanna breathed a short laugh. "I went from being an only child to having seventeen siblings?"

"Pretty much. Want to help me clean up?"

A strange boost of confidence rose in Leanna after listening to Lebreau. She nodded with a smile and followed the barmaid to the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6

Another day had passed by, adding up her days of freedom and counting down her days to when she knew she had to return. Though paranoia still lingered, Leanna was finding it a little easier to relax. The flow of business picked up earlier at the bar than the previous days. With more and more tourists visiting Bodhum for the festival, it was only natural. Lebreau kept to her station behind the bar, serving out orders at a customer satisfactory speed while making use of her new little helper. Leanna's tasks were minimal, such as retrieving bottles from the shelves or a new container of a certain ingredient. When Maqui arrived mid-morning, his first job of the day was to pick a few vegetables from the garden behind the bar. After being asked to accompany him, Leanna had her first experience in unearthing carrots.  
Picking the vegetables wasn't necessarily difficult nor required much brain work, leaving Leanna's mind to water.

She could hear people inside, the sounds of a party. Not a party in the sense of fun but more of business. To celebrate wealth and power. Was it any wonder she felt it was too stuffy inside? She sought refuge on the small patio just outside, where she stood against the wall. Every so often she'd switch the weight from one foot to the other. Wearing high heels this long was such a pain. Maybe she could make an excuse of feeling ill to be able to go home and change into something comfortable?

The thought gave little hope, and instead she fixated on a large billboard she could see just across the road. A splash of fireworks against a dazzling sunset, with large letters reading 'Come to Bodhum for our Annual Fireworks Celebration!' followed by the date and who to call to make any reservations.  
The fireworks, they were approaching again.

"Leanna?" Asked a voice just to her right. Startled, Leanna looked to see a young man in a pressed business suit standing just outside the door."You okay?"

Leanna nodded, "Just tired. I thought some fresh air would help."

The boy smiled, Leanna noticed it suited him better than the stern expression he often wore. She looked back to the billboard, which caught his eye.

"I've never been to the fireworks." Said the young man. "Father says there's better things to do on nights such as those. Everyone else can be out partying but someone has to keep the company going."  
"Funny, that's the same thing mine says." Leanna added, her sigh weighed down with some irritation. "I'd like to see them, just once at least. Maybe before I die would be nice."

"Hn," Said the young man, before being struck with an idea. "What if...just for that night...we went to see them? No one would know we'd be gone. We'd be back before sunrise."

Leanna's eyes widened at the thought, before she smiled. "I'd like that."

"-Hey, Lee, I think we have enough." Said Maqui, standing beside Leanna who, in her day dreaming, had unearthed about five carrots and a potato.

"Uhh...oops. Should I put it back?" She asked feebly.

"Nah, it's too late now. " Maqui grinned, before thumbing back to the bar. "Let's head back in."

"So," Said Lebreau when the pair returned inside. "What'd you think of our little lot back there?"

"It's impressive. I've never seen a home grown garden before," She marveled, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

"We don't need the Sanctum and their fal'Cie to get by, as people are lead to believe." Lebreau explained as she washed the dirt off of the vegetables in the sink. "It's not that hard to take some seeds and stick them in the dirt. Water it enough and you have your own plant. It's quicker and a whole lot cheaper." She dropped the now cleaned carrot into a shallow basket.

It was a refreshing thought for Leanna. Ever since humans came to Cocoon, they had been brought up under the care of fal'Cie. There was hardly a thing in Cocoon that wasn't powered or supplied by them. There were obvious ones such as Kujata or Phoenix, the former being the energy source, latter Cocoon's equivalent to the sun, but there were others that had minimal tasks. With Carbuncle in charge of any and all food products most citizens didn't know how to grow and maintain their own vegetation, nor did they care to learn unless it was a hobby. It wasn't necessary, just let the fal'Cie handle it. That's how it always was.

With the promise of being able to plant something of her choice later, Leanna continued to help Lebreau through the afternoon until the lunch rush of customers died down. While she was retrieving a bright orange bottle from atop the display case, a customer who had been speaking casually with Lebreau remarked about the new helping hand.

"She's pretty good isn't she? It's always nice to have more staff around. Specially one this pretty." Leanna had stepped off the small stool when the barmaid placed her hands on her shoulders, bringing her close. "She brings in all the customers now." Lebreau replied, giving Leanna a suggestive wink. Leanna's best response was quickly offering the retrieved bottle to the barmaid while she ducked her head to hide her flustered face. Laughing as she took the bottle, Lebreau returned to her conversation for a moment, leaving Leanna to wait for her next order of business and awkwardly pinch the side of her pants.

"All right, I'll get started right on it." Lebreau spoke as the customer left the counter. "Hn, are they uncomfortable?" She gave a nod to her clothing. Leanna quickly stopped her fidgeting and placed her hands together.

"Oh no, they're fine. I'm just not used to them."

Lebreau considered the statement, then accepted it with a small shrug. "You want to help?" Leanna looked at her questioningly. "Well if you're going to be 'working' here you might as well know how to make some orders. I mean what if one day I'm out with a terrible illness, then you'll have to be here to save the day." Lebreau spoke with a dramatic air, then sighed, "That happens in vidshows kids watch, right?" Leanna was a bit lost as to what she was saying but went along with it anyway. If Lebreau hadn't decided on being a restaurant owner, she would have done fine in the theater.

As Lebreau was explaining the key ingredients, she ran Leanna through the basics of food preparation. "Dice this up evenly and be sure not to cut your fingers. Gadot just sharpened the knife set and I bet it could cut through a diamond." Leanna was sure to listen intently though she wasn't sure if she'd ever have to use this recipe. She had the feeling if she ever needed to use it, she'd most likely mess up or lose a finger, probably the latter. Lebreau took over the cooking portion of the recipe before pulling out a chilled bottle of soda from the fridge.

"Mind taking this over to the mechanic over there? He looks like he's about to throw the radio." She handed the drink to Leanna and gestured to Maqui, who was sitting at the back table with the aforementioned radio that picked up the military signal.

"Come on, I just had it." Muttered the seventeen year old as he turned the dials on the radio.

"Um, excuse me," Leanna couldn't think of any better greeting. Maqui was too enveloped in his work as he began turning the dial in the other direction. It wasn't until his senses told him there was someone standing nearby that he finally looked up. The cloud of anger over his face dissipated, replaced by a surprised and apologetic look at the sight of Leanna.

"Oh, sorry." He stammered. "I didn't hear you over the static." Leanna offered a small smile.

"I was told to give you this," She held out the glass bottle. "before you ended up throwing that."

"Wow, thanks." Maqui smiled, accepting the glass and taking a sip. "I needed this." His smile brightened his face.

"Is it not working?" She asked, pointing a finger to the brown box.

"Sort of." Maqui sighed. "Sometimes I get a clear signal and most of the time I don't. I had a pretty good signal just now and then it fizzed out on me. It sounded good too..." His words ended in a mutter as his attention returned to the dials and began walking Leanna through the confusing process of band-hacking.

~x~x~x~

Back and forth. Back and forth. It seemed as though everywhere Lebreau went, she followed, or was always in sight. Having caught glimpses of the pair all morning, was it strange he was reminded of a chocobo chick and a hen? Why he was picking up on this detail, he wasn't sure. Perhaps he was that bored. At the other end of the bar, Yuj had been lingering at the arcade machines with several of the other boys as he watched them try to top each other's scores. They'd played these games for months now and yet they still played them with competitive determination. Yuj had grown bored of the games these two consoles offered after the first view plays. He chalked it up to not being a gaming person, at least not with what these ancient games had to offer. Finally pulling himself away from the current battle of robotic pixel sprites, he strode over to the bar where Lebreau was talking with a pair of female customers. Her little helper seemed to be nowhere in sight.

"Afternoon, ladies." He greeted. Upon his arrival, the customers fell into a small spell of bashful laughter before one flirtatiously returned the greeting.

"Hey, Yuj." Said the one with long straight hair as the second girl was shyly looking away. Lebreau rolled her eyes and went back to pushing buttons on the cash register's screen, slightly miffed that her conversation had been interrupted by the fashionista.

"So you finally decided to turn up, as flashy as ever." She remarked cynically, her eyes not leaving the screen. "I swear, you take more time than me to get ready."

"That's 'cause I wear more clothes than you." Snarked Yuj, to which Lebreau scoffed and chucked the dish towel at him. Ducking his head with quick reflexes, Yuj caught the dish cloth.

"Your aim's getting worse, Leb." He commented, give the cloth a shake before tossing it back.

"It's only because I don't want to ruin that pretty face of yours. It's your only asset." A sarcastic compliment well taken by Yuj as the girls laughed again. The second girl with short brown hair tugged on the other's arm.

"C'mon, we gotta get going." She whispered. Both looking disappointed in having to leave, they waved goodbye, more to Yuj than Lebreau, before departing. Once they'd disappeared down the steps with over the shoulder glances, Yuj heaved a short sigh and let his hand drop from his hip.

"You little attention seeking brat." Lebreau hissed through clenched grin as she balled up the cloth and chucked it at him again, this time hitting her mark and leaving a small blotched water stain on the side of Yuj's shirt.

"It's not my fault girls just like me more than you." He said consolingly to Lebreau, as though her feelings had been hurt that he'd stolen the girls' attention. The barmaid looked as though she had a few things to tell the teen but decided against it as it wouldn't do any good. With a sigh, she released almost all thoughts of aggression.

"So, what's the plan for today?"

"I dunno." Replied Yuj as he leaned against the bar counter. "Head to the mall, maybe."

"To do what, bask in the attention of all the girls there too?"

"Why else would I go?" He joked. One reply after another. It seemed as though the pair was always one-upping each other with no sign of either ever winning. A moment of quiet passed between them, quiet enough that Maqui and Leanna's conversation carried over to them. Yuj's green eyes locked onto the pair as Maqui looked to be explaining the radio to a completely lost Leanna who was bent over listening to Maqui's angled headphone.

"Well why don't you take Leanna with you? She hasn't seen the mall yet." Lebreau suggested, the tone in her voice sounding suggestive.

"Nn..." Replied Yuj, his voice distant, hinting at an automated response than an actual answer.

"Don't think I haven't noticed." Said Lebreau with a sly grin.

"Noticed what?" Asked Yuj, finally breaking his eyes away to look at the barmaid.

"There isn't a girl who has walked through this bar that you haven't tried to woo with your smooth talk." Leb explained as she set a bottle back under the counter. "What with your sense of fashion and 'good genetics' it's obvious all the girls talk about you." She spoke, sounds of clanking bottles littering her words.

"And your point is?"

"My point," Lebreau stood up, the quick moment causing a few hairs to fall from the messy bun atop her head. "is that there's one girl over there I've hardly seen you talk to, and it's making me feel concerned." Yuj's eyes moved to glance back to the pair at the back table but stopped themselves short. He wore an expression that he still failed to see what Lebreau was getting at. She heaved a sigh, as though his lack of interaction was a great loss of some sort. "She is a girl you know. I figured that was obvious since day one."

"I know she's a girl." Retorted Yuj. He felt somewhat offended that he was just thought of once again to be a dense air-head that didn't notice the obvious. "I just haven't had anything to say to her is all." He shrugged. The reply sounded lame once it left his mouth.

"Mm-hmm." Lebreau arched a brow, trying to look as though that answer was convincing, but failed. "You know, I'm sure she's forgiven the whole mix up by now." It was as though she read his thoughts. Yuj had been staring down at his boots, trying to keep his face void of expression as Lebreau hit the nail on the head. The boy had never been good with apologies, at least not of this caliber Stepping on someones foot or bumping into them, easy. Mixing up their gender, awkward. As Lebreau casually occupied herself wiping down another bottle, she looked to be enjoying herself.

"She doesn't talk much but she's a good kid. Girl or otherwise." Lebreau went on, then at the drop of a pin, she set the bottle down with an audible clank. "And if I hear you're harassing her, I'll have you pulling double shifts for a month."

"Ouch, okay." Yuj winced, either from the sound of the glass or Lebreau's harsh scolding, maybe both. "I haven't even done anything and I feel like I'm in trouble."

"I know you," Lebreau warned.

"Leb, first I do the offense, then you get mad at me for it." Yuj replied.

"I'm just trying to make sure nothing bothers her any more than she needs right now. She has a lot going through her head,"

"Really? I thought the opposite was happening." The boy replied, then reflexively moved away from the bar as he sensed a head-aimed smack coming from Lebreau. "I'm kidding!" The laughter between the two of them died away.

While Lebreau hummed as she turned her attention to another order, Yuj's eyes wandered again to the pair sitting at the table. From his angle, he could only see a side profile of the girl's face. Though she looked confused at whatever Maqui was trying to explain, he could recall how most of the time she seemed to space out. The only reason could be because she really was thinking. It was strange. He thought he'd seen every kind of face a girl had to offer, but her's was different. It was plain, but, somehow it seemed better that way. Maybe behind it there was a plain girl, something different than the giggling, more fashion oriented crowd he'd been used to. Lately, he'd been bored with everything Bodhum was offering, maybe this was would be an interesting change after all.

~x~x~x~

The flow of customers had died down to an abysmal crawl by late afternoon. Leanna had been leaning against open entrance way of the bar, looking outside at the ocean view with a distant expression. The way the sun reflected off the waters y was almost awe-inspiring. This was one of the few places in Cocoon to see such a sight. A few other people had the shared the same thoughts as they strolled along the beach.

"It's a nice view isn't it?" Asked Lebreau, having left her station at the bar due to lack of business. Leanna nodded watching a flock of sea birds take off down the shore.

"I've lived here for years and I'm still not tired of it." Lebreau sighed, leaning opposite Leanna, admiring the scenery as well. "Do you have anything like this back home?"

Leanna gave a short breath and took a couple steps out onto the deck to feel the soft breeze. "Nope. I was a little closer to Phoenix than I am here, so sunsets were different for me. And any other time the buildings are so tall or there's an overpass, it's hard to see the sky."

Lebreau considered this for a moment, her eyes cast down before she too joined Leanna on the deck.

"Well," She smiled, her hands on her hips, "The days almost done, but that doesn't mean there still isn't stuff to do. I have to finish setting up some things,"

"What should I do?"

Lebreau looked at the girl for a moment, before looking out at the ocean again. She pointed a finger into the distance. "See that building over there?" Leanna turned to follow the direction and nodded. "Why don't you go check it out?" Leanna looked to the barmaid in surprise, but she only laughed. "There's a fal'Cie there. Or at least a statue of one. It looks pretty cool. It's a must see when you're in Bodhum."

Leanna looked back to the diamond-domed building with hesitation. It was quite a distance a way and required walking along a thin stretch of shoreline. The people in the distance nearest the dock were merely dots on the sand.

"The walk will do you some good. You've been cooped up too long in this building, you should be out there having fun."

Leanna tried to smile, but it felt heavy.

~x~x~x~

The walk between the bar and the building took a good twenty minutes if she had to guess, but it was time she couldn't think as wasted. Walking so close to the waves, Leanna had been tempted to remove her shoes and walk in the ankle deep water. It was cool and a sensation she'd never felt before. On more than one occasion, she nearly had the misfortune to step on a fish, who lolled about in the wake of the wave without a care in the world. She could have plucked it out of the water if she dared, though she didn't and therefore left the fish to enjoy whatever fishy thoughts it was having.

If only she could be in such a state of oblivious bliss.

Her mind was tired of thinking, but thinking was all it could do. She tried to push away the thoughts of her situation, but they returned like the waves on the sand. Back and forth they went, and only seemed to be pulling in more emotions and questions than erasing.

Could she go home? Had it ever really been her home? These were questions that whispered doubt in her mind, and though they weren't as pressing as other matters, they still brought unease. What would happen now?

Before she knew it, her feet left the soft sand and connected with the hard wood of the dock. Looking back the way she'd come, she could see the cafe as a small brown building in the distance. Continuing to take in her new surroundings, she could see she the entire island seemed to be framed by the larger buildings of the downtown area. Then down the long promenade stood the fal'Cie's building, much larger now than it was before.

Approaching the building, she looked around, surprised at such a beautiful sight. Outside, it was as though it were a small jungle. Large leafed trees sprouted on either side and lined the railways. There were plants with white blossoms so large, Leanna was sure it could be used as a suitable chair. The building itself, however, was the main attraction. It was as though a garden had overtaken the circular enclosure, and the diamond roof was really glass to allow in the light. The flowers and decorations seemed to frame the statue sitting at the center like an altar. It was hard to tell just what exactly this statue comprised of, but it was certainly a fal'Cie. If she could have given it a description, it resembled a woman standing with some sort of harp. At least, she assumed it was a woman. Sirens were usually women, right?

"What does it do...exactly?" She asked the still air, crossing her arms as she tried to think up this fal'Cie's purpose. What with there being so many functions a fal'Cie could do, it was nearly impossible to know unless it had already been studied by people who were paid to figure out those kinds of questions.

"As far as we know...nothing." Replied a light voice from behind her. Whirling around, Leanna was startled at the entrance of another female. This girl was around her age, with pink hair tied into a ponytail over her shoulder. Her expression was soft and kind, smiling as she looked up to the fal'Cie, then to her. She gave an apologetic laugh, "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

Leanna shook her head. "It's fine. I got caught up in thinking and didn't notice." She paused, recognizing the girl's face from seeing her around the bar once or twice. "You're...Serah, right?"

The girl smiled and gave a nod, almost surprised that Leanna knew her name, though they hadn't been introduced yet.

~x~x~x~

After their introductions were done, the pair took to leaning on the railing outside, overlooking a clear view to the shore, which felt reversed to Leanna. She focused her eyes on the ominous towering structure behind the cafe. Even in the setting sunlight it seemed to glow of its own accord.

"That must have been scary." Serah replied, after Leanna recounted her adventures of getting to Bodhum. "Being chased by monsters and on your first day here too."

Leanna gave a nod, having been hoping to forget the whole event, though it was easier said than done.

"Oh, and sorry I didn't say anything to you before. I...had some things on my mind." The was an edge to Serah's voice, as though it were a difficult subject. Leanna could sympathize, though she didn't know just what was troubling the girl.

"I've had a lot on my mind too," She replied, looking back to the water and listening to the waves. "So much has happened in such little time. I can hardly believe it. One minute I was one place and now I'm here, I'm not even sure how I managed it." Then a thought struck her, "Mm, what are you doing way out here anyway?" She didn't want the question to seem rude, but as there was not another soul around the dock, she had to wonder what would bring her way out here. Unless Lebreau had given her the order to go for a walk as well. Serah smiled, placing her hands on the railing and looking as though she were bashful.

"Well, I just like this place is all. No matter what's bothering me, if I come out here, I seem to think a little better." Her gaze seemed to lose itself in thought as she watched the water. Leanna felt rude to break her from her day dreaming and instead joined. Serah was right, somehow, being out here with nothing but the sound of the sea and birds, her thoughts seemed to flow smoother. A short time passed before Serah was the first to break the silence.

"I'm going to head back to the cafe," She turned to Leanna and gave a wave. "Maybe we'll hang out more later, all right?" Leanna offered a smile and returned the wave, watching as the girl departed, and she was alone to her thoughts once more.

A short while later, Leanna followed suit, having no desire to walk back to the cafe alone in the coming darkness. She walked with her gaze down, watching as the tips of her sneakers disappeared into the soft sand with every step. More than once, she'd neglected to notice a particularly strong wave and in no time, found her shoes soaked through. An unpleasant yet interesting experience. Soon, she heard the familiar music drifting down the beach from the cafe and was relieved at how quickly she'd reached it on her return.

Business had apparently picked up in her absence as she could easily see people lingering about the bar and patio. Seeing so many people in one place, she felt less inclined to enter through the front door. Feeling oddly trapped out on the beach, she watched as a group of boys holding surf boards walked passed.

"Hey," Said an amused voice causing Leanna to turn sharply in surprise. "I didn't think it was possible for you to physically leave the restaurant." There was enough light to visibly tell the person approaching her was the one and only blue-haired teen. "What, did Leb finally kick you out?"

Leanna was caught off guard by this sudden company. "Oh, no. Well, yes? " Yuj looked mildly confused by the answer. "Well, she told me to take a walk. That'd it'd help me clear my head a bit."

"Geeze, how far did you walk? You look sunburned."

Leanna raised a hand to her nose. Was it still red? "Eh, no it's not a sunburn," She quickly explained. But Yuj was laughing at her reaction.

"I'm just kidding. Your nose is fine." Yuj gave a nod, his footsteps falling in line with hers. "I've seen you helping Lebreau out with the bar. That's a job most of the guys try avoiding."

"But don't you work there?"

Yuj sighed bitterly, "She bullied me into it. Figured if I was going to 'stand around looking pretty', "He made air gestures around the phrase, "I might as well work while I'm at it. Besides, money is money." Leanna realized that even though she'd been working, it had been more or less for free. Or at least room and board. It wasn't right to ask for money in her situation, but somehow it felt like a missed opportunity. A moment of silence passed between them.

"So, what brought you to Bodhum? The fireworks?" Asked Yuj, trying not to sound too prying or forceful in his conversation. Leanna grimaced slightly at the question. It was one she'd been avoiding since she'd arrived, one she didn't have a clear answer to yet.

"Y-yeah,"

"Got nothing like this back in Palumpolum, huh?" Yuj's remark caused Leanna to look confused for a moment. He quickly added, "I mean, that's where the others said you were from, right?"

Leanna suddenly remembered when Snow had asked the question. The name Palumpolum struck a cord somewhere in her confusion.

"Yeah, well, no...sort of." She stammered, her mind throwing out every answer seemingly at once. Yuj gave a small laugh at the mixed answer. Leanna realized just how strange the reply sounded and calmed her thoughts down enough to get a clear sentence.

"I was born there so, yeah...It's my hometown." It wasn't exactly far from the truth. "But I moved a few years back. When people ask me where I'm from though, I always say Palumpolum." Her expression was somewhat sad, thinking back to that sad day when she moved.

"You don't like saying where you're living now?" Asked Yuj. "Understandable."

Leanna's gaze had fallen to the waves near her feet. "I thought I did," She replied solemnly.

"Mind if I ask where?"

Leanna smiled, though it was still touched with sadness as she shook her head. "I'm not even sure if it matters. I don't know if I'm going back." The words were hard to say. It hurt being reminded of the place she tried so hard to love. Of all people, she wondered why she was spilling them out to him, but the words were out before she realized it. Realizing the statement had brought down the previously awkward mood, she quickly added, "I mean, it's so nice here. I don't want to leave. I don't get sunsets like this back home...which is up there" It was a feeble attempt to cover her emotions, but she pointed upwards with a smile. Yuj glanced in the direction but found himself to be staring at nothing but orange colored sky.

"That's still pretty vague."

Was there a point in keeping her home secret? She had been afraid it'd be the one clue they needed to send her back, but now, was it okay to tell them. Leanna looked up to get her bearings and pointed determinedly at the golden glowing structure in the last rays of sunlight, hovering miles above their head.

"Eden? You're from Eden?" The boy asked with mild surprise.

"Is that bad?"

"No, just...interesting." But at that moment a copper haired boy passed close to them and called out, "Hey, we're going for some night surfing. You in?"

They were startled by the sudden interruption but Yuj quickly recovered. "Y-yeah! I'll be there," He replied, giving a slight wave before returning his attention to the girl he'd finally been able to talk to. He gave an amused grin, "I'd offer for you to join but...I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you don't know how to surf."

Leanna shook her head, her expression displaying astonishment. "I don't even remember how to swim."

Yuj considered the answer, "Well then, if you're here long enough...maybe I could give you some lessons." He smiled as he walked past her, placing a hand on her head long enough to ruffle the top of her hair before departing. Leanna patted down her hair as she failed to make mention of having no swimsuit.

She looked back up again to floating city.

Eden; the city many people aspire to live in. But, I just couldn't live there anymore, she had wanted to say a moment ago.

~x~x~x~

Back in the restaurant, the upbeat music helped keep Lebreau's mind keep focused as she had fallen into the routine of making orders. She finished the two specials before handing them to their waiting customers when she noticed someone standing in the doorway to the office.

"So, how was your walk?" She asked, seeing the familiar clothing colors of Leanna. There wasn't an answer, which prompted Lebreau to finally look up from placing several spice jars back in their rack. Leanna hadn't replied because she looked like she wasn't listening. She leaned against the door frame, her eyes directed at the floor as she looked troubled. Lebreau approached her and placed a hand on the girls shoulder. Before she could pose a question, a small voice came from Leanna.

"I'm scared..." Her voice shook. Tears brimmed in her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time since she'd arrived. She was tired of crying, tired of being tired of crying and more importantly, tired of feeling so miserable. "I'm scared to go back,"

Lebreau quickly steered her back into the office and sat her on the couch.

"You mean home?" She asked gently.

Leanna's head hung low and she clutched the cushion of the sofa. "I was scared, so I ran away. But now I'm scared to go back. I'm so confused."

Lebreau sighed, feeling she could only offer support for the girl. "I can't tell you if you should go back or not. That's something you have to figure out for yourself. But since you're still too upset about going back...why don't you wait a bit? Take it day by day." She suggested. Leanna dried her eyes on her arm and looked at the barmaid. Lebreau gave a small shrug. "Two more days and it's the fireworks festival. It seems like a good enough reason to want to stay in Bodhum. At least for me. And maybe you can make a wish, that this will all clear up, and then go home. Who knows, it might come true."

Leanna quietly thought over the suggestion. She'd wanted to see the fireworks for years now. If this was going to be her last year of decent control over her own life, she'd wanted to at least see them once. A few days ago though, the idea had just been a daydream, something she might have done just for the evening and then returned home before he would even have realized she was gone. The plan fell through when she fled, but perhaps it wasn't too far fetched that she left a little early to catch the festival. Would he buy the excuse, though? Leanna gave a shaky nod, accepting the suggestion, which brought a relieved smile to Lebreau's face.

"Try not to think too hard on it until then." As much as she tried to sound considerate, she'd noticed several customers lingering around the bar and had to, regretfully, put her bar tending duties before all else again. She left Leanna on the couch with a final word of consolation and returned to the register.

Leanna sat on the sofa for what felt like hours before the silence was broken.

"Hey, Leanna." Whispered a voice from the door leading outside. Maqui had been peeking his head in with a smile on his face as usual. Leanna hoped her eyes didn't give away her recent breakdown as she got to her feet. The boy looked shy as he held something just out of sight of the door frame.

"I figured since we'd be here another couple hours until the cafe closed, and most of the team's out night surfing, I thought of something." He pulled his hand in to reveal two long sticks with strings tied to them and crudely fashioned hooks at the ends. "Wanna try doing some night fishing?" He asked excitedly.

Night fishing, was probably not the best way to describe what the spent the next hour or so doing. The fish didn't seem to notice nor care about the baited hooks in the water. One of them even carelessly swam passed without so much as a glance. They decided the fishing rods were a lost cause, abandoned them on the dock, rolled up their pants and waded into knee-deep water. Soon, they'd made a game on who could catch the most fish, releasing them afterwards, of course. And the fish didn't seem to mind either. Leanna stared into the gaping mouth of the pale gray fish as she held it in her hand before setting it back into the water, where it lolled away into the current. By the time Lebreau had cleaned and closed up the cafe, both Leanna and Maqui were soaked to the bone, but laughing all the same as they sat on the sandy beach discussing mundane topics of recent films or fashion trends.

"Honestly, can't you two stay clean AND dry for at least one day?" She reprimanded.


	7. Chapter 7

Lebreau wasn't sure if Leanna's mood had improved or gotten worse. She was as quiet as ever, even as she sat on the patio holding the colored piece of chalk over the standing blackboard, which was now lying on the patio table outside. It was indeed a problem if her habit was to hold everything in until it came out with a flurry of emotion. It resulted in headaches and unneeded stress. But the barmaid couldn't think of a way to casually bring up the conversation any other time. It was hard seeing someone struggle this much, even more so with no idea of how to fix the problem.

She'd set her on the task of rewriting the specials menu that morning to keep her mind busy at least, and the plan was working. Every now and then the barmaid would glance up from her place at the register to find Leanna erasing and writing with creased brows of concern.

"It doesn't have to be perfect, you know!" She called to her as she refilled the glass of an early-bird customer.

"Well I keep writing it crooked." Leanna replied, grabbing the now multi-colored dish cloth and rubbing the blackboard for the umpteenth time that morning.

"Gives it more character. I'm banning you from using that dishrag unless it's for a typo." Lebreau pointed with a firm glare, leaving Leanna to bow her head in resignation to the command and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Lebreau had convinced her into tying her hair over her shoulder for something new, leaving her to awkwardly always feel the need to adjust it somehow. This wasn't the first time she'd done that since she started as she now had a few powdered streaks of chalk in her hair.

They'd both gotten back to work when a someone entered the bar from the front entrance, a little faster than most people as if he was just stopping from a run.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. He-Actually-Does-Stuff-For-That-Figure." Lebreau greeted with a mock impressed smile. Even early in the morning, she wasn't going to leave him alone. It was like an exercise for her. The boy who'd entered was Yuj, breathless and indeed looking like he just stopped for the first time from a long run. His outfit was nothing more than a tanktop with some sort of logo, jogging shorts and sneakers, but still somehow flattered him all the same. His blue hair, which still often caught Leanna by surprise, was tied back in a ponytail with the hopeless shorter hairs still loose.

"Morning to you too, Leb." He greeted, brushing off her remark as Leb set out a cold clear glass of water for him without being asked.

"You're still seeing up for the festival? Haven't you been doing that all week? "

"Hey, it's been a year. Things collect dust. I'm done with most of the heavy work now it's just the fine details. I have Gadot polishing the kayak out back and I've been figuring out the new menus. She's been rewriting the boards." Lebreau gave a nod to the patio and Yuj looked over. Leanna had been sneaking to grab the dishrag, the look on her face clearly showing uncertain suspicion.

"Ah! I see that hand!" Lebreau scolded and she immediately retracted her hands into her lap like she'd been shocked. Lebreau stifled a small laugh. "Honestly, I can't help but mess with her." She said more to herself before her attention was caught by a new lingering customer.

Outside, Leanna had been looking over the sheet of paper she'd been handed, the mock up menu meant to be transferred into colorful letters onto the black board. But she was confused.

"Uh, is this a 'r' or a 'p'-" She had started to ask, looking back into the bar when she found her vision blocked by a body. Looking up, as she was sitting down, she was greeted with a wave by Yuj. "Oh..." She faltered, startled by his sudden appearance.

"Let me see," He said, standing behind her chair and leaning over to see what she'd been asking. "It's a 'r'." He replied, but he didn't move back. "Hn, you have nice writing."

Leanna looked down at the blackboard, suddenly self conscious about her work. Underneath the writing there were still obvious streaks of previous words. "I keep writing crooked." She muttered, tilting her head as if it was some mystical force causing it that she couldn't fathom.

"It's still nicer than mine. Leb tried having me write the menus once and never asked again." Yuj joked, before noticing something else. Leanna looked at her hands and quickly curled her fingers.

"She painted them...last night." She admitted before holding her hands in front to display the bright orange nail polish. "They even smell like oranges, though I don't think sniffing nailpolish is a smart idea...It's kind of hard to resist though."

Yuj turned so that he could lean against the table and took a drink of water. "Working here day after day, how are you not being driven insane? Lebreau I can understand..."

Leanna picked up a fresh green chalk and began writing the next special. "Lebreau keeps me busy, so I don't mind. I like working."

"Can't imagine how. Did you work like this before?"

"Nope, which is why I think I like it so much. If I was here any longer I'd probably start to hate it though." Still, her voice sounded light, like she enjoyed the idea of simply being useful.

"You are something else-"

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop distracting my work staff." Came Lebreau's voice from across the room. She had been watching the two with an arch in her brow as she'd been ticking away things on the register screen.

"I work for you too, ya know." Retorted Yuj.

"Not for much longer if you keep bugging the ones that are actually doing something."

"I was actually having a conversation. Nothing I do will please you will it?" The boy moved away from the table and entered the bar again, leaving Leanna to watch with uncertain interest as they continued their banter. She was having a nice conversation for once, not to say the others had been horrible but, it was nice talking. She was about to return to her writing when she was in the company of the blue-haired teen yet again.

"Listen, since this is your first trip to Bodhum and all you've been doing is hanging around the bar, how about I at least show you the mall? I'm headed there tomorrow," The smile on his face was inviting. Leanna quickly thought over the possible events of seeing the mall. If her time here was coming to a quick end within two days, it would be better leaving knowing she at least saw some of Bodhum. She replied with a nod,

"Okay,"

"If you're not here to work , go back to running." Lebreau called through the bar.

~x~x~x~

It was early afternoon by the time Leanna finally finished the task of rewriting the menus. Her arms were stained with the colors of the chalk, no matter how hard she rubbed with the palm of her hand they would not fade. She sighed, admitting temporary defeat as she stood just outside the entrance to the bar. Her eyes scanned over the ocean, trying to take in all the colors and commit the image to memory. How she wished she had a camera. Or maybe she could buy a post-card. Something to remember this beautiful image. She closed her eyes and took in a breath of the clean air.

She felt...lighter. It was hard to tell why. Maybe this vacation thing really did have a physical effect. Or maybe it was all the crying she'd been bottling away for so long. She was relaxed, until her mind decided to remind her that in two days she'd be leaving. A knot of worry developed in her stomach and she leaned forward slightly. The anxiety began to rush back. She'd have to face what she ran away from, she wasn't ready for that. Not yet. Two more days...she still had that long. She could muster up any courage she had in that amount of time, hopefully.

Her thoughts were stopped by the sounds of orders being shouted just down the beach. A group of five or so teenage boys were gathered near the towering rocks, standing in front of them was the towering demeanor of Gadot. He looked serious, like a drill instructor as he gestured to the team members what they would be doing. Leanna remembered Lebreau mentioned somewhere that Gadot usually spent his mornings training the team. The words were hard to hear but Leanna was sure she heard something about running to the third district of some island, which must not have been close because the boys looked upset. One by one, they began running anyway, albeit slow and with little enthusiasm. Only one boy didn't follow, and even from a distance Leanna could see who it was.

Gadot lifted a crate and handed it to Maqui, who leaned forward with the sudden weight but hefted the crate upwards and began walking alongside the man, who carried another similar crate. They were busy talking as they took a turn to head towards the red-roofed shed beside the bar. Though Leanna felt it would be awkward to suddenly intrude, she had little else to do and felt inclined to see what was going on. With a short peek back into the bar to see Lebreau busy at her working station, Leanna began to walk towards the cement walkway towards the shed.

There was a clatter of metallic objects hitting the table as she approached. She quickly recognized the objects to be a variety of guns.

"Get these fixed up by tomorrow night, okay?" Gadot asked Maqui, who was hesitantly looking over the artillery. "Half the team's gonna be out on some patrols. Those fire works always startle monsters out of the nooks and crannies of this place.

"Got it. No problem. I'll have them working even better than when they were bought." Maqui replied with a smile before noticing Leanna standing just outside the garage. The girl offered a weak smile and what might have been a wave had it not turned into a swipe of the hair to get it out of her face. Once Gadot saw who had caught Maqui's attention, he gave a welcoming nod.

"Haven't seen you around lately. Leb's really got you cleaning, doesn't she?" He asked. Leanna gave a bashful smile. With how everyone kept talking about this whole task of cleaning, it was like Lebreau was usually alone when it came to it. Leanna was like some sort of savior. Maqui had started organizing the guns on the table, which caught Leanna's eye. Gadot must have spotted the hint of caution when she looked at them because he stepped aside and gave a thumbed gesture to the guns.

"They're harmless. Well right now anyway." He informed, reaching for one and holding it out as an example. "I take it you're not fond of them?"

"Not very," Replied Leanna weakly, pinching at the fabric of her pants again. "They're really loud..."

"Heh," Gadot approached her, holding the gun in both hands. "You just gotta get used to 'em." He said it like it was the same as getting used to a new pet. But before he could elaborate on the subject someone walked in along the walkway.

"Yuj, perfect timing. How 'bout you take over?" Gadot asked, the question catching the teen off guard.

~x~x~x~

"Okay," Began Yuj, standing now with only Maqui and Leanna for his company in the small lot beside the garage. His arm was raised, placing two fingers on his forehead as though trying to fight off an oncoming headache. "can someone explain to me how I got stuck...teaching you two." He motioned the two fingers towards the two other bodies. Maqui let out a nervous laugh as he scratched under his goggle strap as Leanna averted her eyes. She hadn't minded when it was Gadot who was going to do her teaching, but with this blue haired teen, she wasn't so sure.

"Well Gadot had other plans, he's been training the guys all morning and it's not like we were doing anything." Maqui replied timidly.

"I might have had plans too, y'know." Yuj retorted, though he was lying. In fact, he was glad for the order to do something, even if it was to train the 'newbies'.

"But you told me this morning you didn't." Replied Maqui, missing Yuj's sarcasm. The nineteen year-old let out a sigh at this and turned away, a hand on his forehead.

"It's not like anyone else is gonna do it. Both of you would die if Gadot made you train." He remarked with a scoff at the thought. Maqui and Leanna had to admit, the former more than she as he _had_ nearly died during one of Gadot's training sessions. As Maqui started a small conversation with Leanna, Yuj had entered the garage to the table and selected several of the lined machine guns used for missions.

"Why are your arms all colored?" He heard the boy ask. Leanna made a small noise that suggested she had forgotten and laughed.

"Chalk. Rewrote the menus."

"It looks pretty cool actually. You're like tie-dyed." Leanna replied with a modest 'mmm'.

Yuj took his time at the table, buying himself time to steal a glance at the occupied pair. It was weird. The words didn't seem to come out right any time he tried talking to her and there was the awkward mechanical boy able to have an easy conversation with her like they were already best friends. Somewhere in the back of his head, something twinged at the sight of this. Maybe it was because he was used to having the attention from girls. What could he say? He couldn't help sometimes being a ladies man.

He set the guns on the table a little louder than he'd meant to, probably to non-vocally get the attention of the two. The loud clattering cut through their conversation and brought their attention to their new instructor.

When Leanna caught a better glimpse of him, she was mesmerized by the orange-yellow of his shirt as it seemed to clash with the blue of his hair but at the same time it seemed to work since the tan, black and dark red of the rest of the outfit . If this boy had a style, it was certainly a mystery to her. Leanna wasn't sure why she was trying to decode his outfit and abandoned the line of thought before she gave herself another headache.

The teen approached the two, holding two small model guns, one of which he held out to Maqui.

"Here, I know you don't like firing these things so...go knock yourself out." When Maqui reached for the gun, which had already been held oddly level with his head, Yuj titled the barrel forward and gave the blond a tap on the forehead, which deflected off his goggles. " _Really_ knock yourself out." He added, allowing the boy to take the automatic weapon with an embarrassed laugh and pass him into the garage.

When he turned his attention to Leanna, that invisible concrete wall seemed to materialize between them, bringing forth all emotions that had been driving them to avoid each other. Then again, maybe it was just he who was doing the avoiding. Standing a meter away, his mind noted that with her hair to the side, she looked nice. The words to say so caught in his throat. It was strange. Compliments to women always came so easily to him, always replied to with flattering laughter and more admiring. Yet now, the words seemed to want to stay unspoken, backing up in his throat and causing an uncomfortable lack of oxygen to reach his brain.

He realized both of them had been standing in silence for the better part of a minute. Leanna had overcome whatever nerves she had and had been taking advantage of his vacant gaze to look over his face. Yuj gave a short, curt cough, taking the stance of a teacher who knew what he was talking about. At least with guns he knew something he could pass on.

"Hold out your hands."

Leanna obeyed. Yuj placed the gun flat in her hands to test out the weight. Leanna hadn't been prepared to take the weapon and her hands dropped several inches, taking note of how cold the metal felt against her palms.

"This is a standard machine gun." Yuj began. "Simple to use, easy to carry." Leanna was staring down at the machine gun as though it were about to sprout a mouth full of razor sharp teeth and bite her hands clean off.

"You have seen a gun before right?" Yuj had his hands on his hips, leaning forward slightly, trying his best not to laugh at her dinner plate sized eyes.

"...On tv." Leanna replied meekly, still fearing that the machine gun would do something of its own accord and therefore didn't want to speak too loud.

"It's light, so even you could use it."

"You mean...I have to use a gun?"

"Well...most of the guys in NORA do. It's the best way to get the message across to the monsters."

"...But guns kill people."

"Yeah, I suppose they could."

"...You mean I have to kill people?"

The questions seemed to fall out one after the other, all the while Leanna's eyes did not move from the weapon sitting innocently in her hands. She looked ready to drop the gun right on her feet at any given moment. Yuj sighed, this was going to be a long afternoon. He lifted the gun from her hands and began to look it over.

"Since the start of NORA, we've never used guns against people. Nor do we plan to." He replied, taking the gun from her hands and holding it casual within his. "We only go after monsters that threaten the safety of the people."

"Like the one I was running from?"

Yuj trained his attention to the gun. "Exactly, though that's the first big one we had in a while. Most of them are wannabe monsters that have a roar worse than their bite."

"Hey!" Shouted Maqui, his voice echoing slightly off the garage walls. "Their bites pretty bad too!" He motioned a screw driver over to the still out of commission airbike behind him. Yuj laughed lightly, before turning to his pupil.

"If you're lucky, you won't even have to use this. But it'd be good to know how to use it, even for defense."

"Defense as in shooting people?"

"Are you going to stand there and ask questions about it all day or are you going to learn how to use it?" His tone of voice had meant to be light and teasing, but instead came out with an air of annoyance. He wasn't sure if he was annoyed or not but the response inflicted regret that he'd spoken at all. Leanna looked down at her feet like a child being scolded for her curiosity.

"All right, here." He took another step closer. As he was setting the gun back in her hands, he could feel them trembling. Seeing a gun was probably bad enough for her, now she was holding one and being told she might have to fire it.

"It's not loaded. You can pull the trigger." It didn't seem to ease her fear. "You don't have to go through with this if you don't want to." Leanna stiffened slightly.

"I can do it." She replied shortly. Neither her voice nor expression were entirely confident.

Yuj raised an eyebrow. For someone who looked ready to run, she also looked determined not to. It was surprising seeing this kind of determination coming from someone who was so openly frightened. "A guns good for shooting, but it's also good for defending. By _not_ shooting." He added before she could throw out another question.

"It comes in handy if you're fighting against something that can move faster than you can fire." Yuj put distance between them, having noted that being so close was causing some underlying unease. "Say you're going to get attacked from the front, how would you block it?"

Leanna was quiet a moment. As he watched, he could see the concern in her face changed to something of deep thought. Her mind was trying to wrap around the entire idea of using a gun's body in the form of defense. She carefully moved her arms, holding it up to hide half her face, her shoulders shrugging. A laugh issued from Yuj as he lowered his head for a moment. Standing straight, he crossed his arms.

"Are you blocking an attack, or are you handing them your weapon to make it easier for them?"

Leanna lowered the gun in disappointment. It took a few minutes to run through the generals of evading an attack using the gun before Leanna was finally able to hold up the artillery with some confidence.

"So you have the basics of blocking an attack." Yuj paced back and forth with a hand to his hip. "But if you don't know how to deflect an oncoming attack, you'll end up flat on your back with the monster right on top of you." Leanna looked up in surprise. The very thought of having to block one of those fiery monsters that had chased her almost a fortnight before caused her to freeze.

Yuj stepped within an arms distance before her and moved a hand to the gun, still held in blocking position, and gave it a swift push. Leanna had to take a step backwards to catch herself from falling.

"See? It's good for blocking but not when you'll still end up falling over. Learn to deflect the attack and use the enemy's weight and momentum against them." He turned around. "Hey, blondie!" He called over his shoulder. Maqui, who's been in his own world working away at taking apart the gun, stopped and looked over. "I need to use you for an example."

Leanna observed as Yuj and Maqui demonstrated blocking and deflecting attacks, thankfully now without the gun in her hands. Maqui was fairly good at it. He'd had enough training before, considering the story he had explained to her the other day of her rescue. Yuj would move forward with a stick he'd picked up from the surrounding shrubbery, aiming to give Maqui a hard jab in the ribs and he would use the gun's body to catch the gun and direct it to pass him instead. After several more repetitions of the same move, Yuj did a small spin of the crooked staff and held it at his side.

"Just like that, got it?"

Leanna nodded.

"Now it's your turn." He handed Maqui the staff, who in turn handed Leanna the gun. She held it in the blocking stance, though whatever confidence she had before evaporated. Giving a word of encouragement, Maqui moved forward with a slow paced attack, aiming right for the gun's side. It caught between the gun's components and Leanna forgot that she had to move.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" She said quickly.

Yuj placed a curled hand at his chin, as if to hide a small laugh. "In a real fight, you wouldn't apologize for a mistake your attacker did. Take advantage of it."

Yuj had stepped behind her and gave another signal to Maqui to try again after wedging the gun from its trap. Maqui moved forward, but to her surprise, it was oddly faster than he had done before. Leanna was about to cower behind the gun and forsake everything she'd just learned when hands moved around her and placed themselves just atop her wrists. In one fluid motion, the attack clanked harmlessly against the body while at the same time being pushed to the right, sending Maqui staggering forward a few paces. Leanna stared in surprise, amazed of what had just happened.

Yuj laughed. He let go of Leanna's wrists and grinned looking down. "See? It's easy." Leanna had turned to looking over her shoulder at him, still looking amazed. "Then again, against that lame-brain I'm sure he couldn't hit the bright side of a barn."

"Hey!" Maqui retorted, recovering from his stagger and wheeling around. "Say that again to my trusty sword!" He aimed the staff threateningly, inches from Yuj who, with a cold steely gaze at the blond boy in front of him, pushed the staff aside with the back of his hand. Caught in the death-glare, Maqui relinquished his hold on the weapon, to which Yuj snatched from the air and in turn aimed it at Maqui.

"You're trusty what now?" He asked dangerously, leaning close to the boy. Maqui was falling apart faster than a puzzle falling off a table. His toothy grin widened as he took a step back, his eyes staring pointedly at the end of the staff.

"N-nothing, your Majesty."

"That's what I thought." He turned his attention back to Leanna, who'd started to carefully look over the gun still in her possession. "So...see ya tomorrow?" He asked, offering a small smile. Leanna's expression showed that for a moment she didn't understand what he meant before something clicked.

"Mm-hmm." She nodded.

~x~x~x~

That night, not long after returning once again to Lebreau's home for the night. All of Leanna's anxieties began to rush back. Any time she wasn't thinking about something else, the thoughts of returning home popped into her mind as if to tauntingly take away whatever calm she had gained. She tried hard to focus on anything but those thoughts. She'd worry about them the day of leaving and leave it at that.

But by doing so, another thought began to develop. What had happened that day was different than all the others. Most of her company had only been kept to Lebreau or Maqui, but today...it was him. Something was different, she thought as she stood idly in front of the bathroom mirror. She wasn't sure what though. Maybe it was because that was the first time she'd actually spent more than two seconds in the same area as him. Ever since she'd arrived, he'd kept a strange determination to avoid her. She hadn't thought too much of it then, she chalked everything up to being pure coincidence, but she could count on one hand how many times she'd been within teen feet of him before one of them left the area. She had to be over thinking things.

What had she done to him to cause him to avoid her? Had she said something? More rather, didn't say something?

After taking a shower to rid herself of the tie-die effect of the chalk on her skin, hair and clothes, she confessed to Lebreau about these thoughts.

"He has an issue with the guilt getting to him." Said Lebreau, as she sat on the edge of the bed Leanna was using. She sounded as though this was a regular occurrence. "Remember he was the one who called you 'Lee', making everyone, except me, think of you as a boy. Just tell him not to let it worry his pretty blue head. Clearly everyone's over it. Although I must say, he's kinda cute when he's shy." Lebreau replied with a soft laugh.

Shy? Judging by the small group of girls that tended to follow the teen in question, Leanna though shyness was the last emotion he ever felt. For a boy, he was awfully aware of the fashion world, having told those he spoke to around the bar that he'd gotten his new flashy outfit up in Eden. 'Nothing decent in Palumpolum.' he told them. Leanna wasn't too sure, but she'd never seen clothes like that in the city above, nor did she think Palumpolum was out of 'decent' clothes. She bought all her clothes there, and they were decent enough for her.

Maybe he hadn't wanted to speak with her because she wasn't like those girls. All wearing short outfits and styled hair and carrying purses, giggling and fawning. Leanna borrowed Lebreau's clothing, which by itself was amazing that she had clothes that covered this much skin since her current outfit resembled swimwear. But it was nothing flashy or eye catching like the ones she was seeing at the bar.

But for someone who'd been trying so hard to avoid her, he seemed unusually natural during the short training session earlier. Lebreau had told her a few times in passing conversation that Yuj was more of an attention seeker than anything. He served more as eye-candy for the team than a helping hand like the others on most days, but his attitude changed when he was with the guys or even just by himself.

Maybe she'd seen that different side of him. He knew his way around a machine gun, he even knew how to fight with a plain branch from a tree. Maybe there was more sides to him than originally thought.

This was the first time Leanna could remember thinking this much about a boy. Should she be concerned? Before she could ask such a question, Lebreau stood up from the side of the bed and looked at the already packed duffle bag at her feet. She couldn't hide the mild look of sadness in her expression.

"I wish you didn't have to leave. You're such a big help to have around. Not that I was just keeping you around to help clean but..."

Leanna pulled on a loose fitting tee-shirt and sat down on the stool facing the plainly decorated dresser. Her hair was still wet and stringy by the shower but she blotted it away with the towel.

"Part of me wishes I wasn't. I love this place but...I really should go home eventually." She replied, her voice weighed down. She reached for a brush and began to pull it through her hair, snagging a knot.

"May I?" Lebreau asked, holding her hand out for the brush. Leanna looked from the brush to her hand before handing it over. Lebreau walked behind her and pulled all her hair behind her ears.

"You still have one day here and that's for the fireworks. It'll be fun," She explained. "There'll be tons of people and the mall just goes crazy with trying to sell things. I hear you're going to be going there tomorrow," She had a mischievous smile on her face.

"Mm-hmm, although I'm not sure I'll buy anything."

"You should. Get a cute outfit or something. Not that my clothes aren't flattering on you but...just spoil yourself with something from your style while you're here." Said Lebreau, carefully brushing Leanna's tan hair. "Try to make the best of this vacation while you still can. It'll be so boring to tell people back home that all you did was clean for a woman who owns a bar."

Leanna's laugh was short and spaced. Leaning in, Leb noted that Leanna's eyes were closed.

"Nothing like getting your hair brushed, mm?" Lebreau spoke softly. "Does your mom do this at home?"

Leanna's eyes opened, "She used to." There was a short silence before Leanna took in a breath. "She always wanted to see the fireworks. Which is probably why I wanted to see them so badly lately. She used to see them all the time when she was a kid. I never got that chance. Everything was so hectic after she remarried that seeing them was never part of the equation. But I wanted to see them just once..."

Lebreau's eyebrows creased in some concern. Leanna's head lowered before she sat up straight and raised a hand to her face and wiped away what was obviously tears. She tried to laugh but it was weak. "There I go again,"

Lebreau set down the brush and leaned in, giving her a hug from behind. "Maybe she'll be watching them too."

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

To say the Bodhum Mall was crowded would have been a sizable understatement. If Leanna could wager a guess, most, if not every resident of the sea side city had decided to go to the mall that morning. It wasn't a surprise, what with it being the day of the fireworks but according to Lebreau, this kind of crowd was quite common.

Leanna had barely entered the complex of the semi-outdoor mall when she was overwhelmed by everything her eyes were taking in. She felt as though seeing so many colors at once it was causing a sort of malfunction in her brain. The open spaces of sidewalks and courtyard areas were filled with people, local and tourist alike. The air filled with the excited buzz of conversation and the smells from food vendors. It was loud, but Leanna liked it. Clothes of all styles and colors hung off the racks from several shops, each with small groups of happy shoppers sifting through the wares. Other shops had things like knick-knacks, games, furniture, even one that had office supplies and just down the walkway she could make out a line of brand-new cars for sale. If one could name it, this mall probably had it, and she hadn't even explored the upper levels yet. Had it not been for Lebreau leading Leanna by the arm, she probably would have gotten lost several times.

But they weren't there for a new desk or the latest model hover vehicle. With Lebreau as her guide, she and Leanna made stops to every clothing shop they came across.

Lebreau's voice was muffled and distant, as though bouncing off an invisible wall of sorts in the back of Leanna's mind. The barmaid had been going on about something on fashion and colors as she'd been plucking through an aisle of hanging clothes. Leanna had found herself in front of a full body mirror and everything but the image reflecting back seemed to melt away. There was a girl looking back at her, she knew it was her, but felt it wasn't at the same time. Did she really look like this? All the time? This is what people saw...?

"Hey, are you listening?" The voice came a little louder. Leanna had been lifting a lock of tan hair from her shoulder, half-heartily considering a drastic change to her hair when she finally registered she was being spoken to. At her blank stare to the barmaid, the she laughed.

"You're supposed to look in a mirror after you've tried on the clothes." She put the two hanging clothes back on the rack.

"Are you sure this is all right?" Asked Leanna as they stood in the air conditioned shop, her arms outstretched to hold several clothing items. Lebreau stood in the aisle, a hand to her chin in thought as she regarded the clothes.

"Of course!" She replied, pulling out what looked to be a shirt before shaking her head and putting it back. "You've worked enough hours at the cafe to afford a whole new wardrobe. Think of this as an 'end of vacation thank you' present." She smiled, dropping another shirt into Leanna's arms.

Clothes as a present of gratitude, Leanna was still unsure at the thought. She wasn't used to receiving gifts and it left her feeling oddly dishonest to accept it. But a gift was a gift. It was decided that she'd have at least one outfit she bought for herself, made all the more special as the first time she'd wear it would be during the fireworks festival that evening. But finding an outfit Leanna liked was proving to be a difficult task. The clothes were nice, but after the first few shops, they began to look the same. Colors, designs and patterns seemed to all compliment the beach scenery, but there was always one thing on them that she didn't quite like.

"You're tougher to shop for than you let on, missy." Sighed Lebreau. Leanna could only offer an apologetic smile.

As early afternoon rolled around, the pair found themselves at one of the few remaining clothing stores of the mall. Leanna felt guilty for not having an easier fashion sense, but it was a guilt she'd keep quiet as Lebreau seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Do you go shopping often?" Leanna asked as they walked down the aisles looking at jackets.

"Yeah, by myself. I'm usually so busy with the cafe I don't really have time to anymore. Plus it's fun going with girl friends. Boys just don't get fashion like we do,"

"Excuse you, I think I have a pretty honed skill at it," Retorted a voice from behind them.

Without skipping a beat Lebreau replied, "That's why I said 'boys'. You're in your own category."

Yuj looked baffled at the remark, "And what category is that?"

"Self-centered eye-candy." Lebreau tossed out, before grabbing Leanna's shoulders and ushering her down another aisle.

"Oh, hey, Marcy! I didn't know you were working today." Lebreau greeted the worker before quickly whispering to Leanna, "Look around and see if you find something okay?" And with a supportive pat on the shoulder, she heading towards the worker to chat.

Leanna stood at the clothing rack at a complete loss. It wasn't that she didn't like the clothes, it was simply a matter of not understanding the style. Most of the residence here wore something similar to two piece bathing suits. While Leanna was used to blouses, skirts and nice shoes. It was an interesting change but not one Leanna could easily grasp.

Her thought was affirmed as a group of girls walked past the open bay windows, laughing and talking while holding ice creams. Leanna watched them quietly until they left but in those few moments she was taking mental notes.

Back to the clothing rack she began to pick out clothing that matched theirs. After all, when in Bodhum do as they do, right? She held up a particular outfit and looked it over.

"I'm having a hard time imagining you in something like that." Said a voice from behind her. Since her time at the bar, she'd grown somewhat accustomed to hearing his particular voice. It had a strange waver to it, like he found something almost amusing and was just about to laugh. Yuj was standing nearly beside her with his arms crossed. "You don't seem like the type." He remarked, looking at the garment in her hand.

"The...type?" Leanna replied, looking from him to the outfit.

"Two piece suits." Yuj replied, "Nah," He gave a wave of the hand and Leanna put the hanger back on the rack. "You look a little 'girl next door' to me. Something casual like, uh," He moved down the aisle with a look of consideration before picking out something else. It looked like a sundress and held it up before Leanna. "This should work. It's a little plain but you could add layers..."

Leanna accepted the dress and looked it over. "I like plain dresses. You can look nice without really trying."

There was a small responsive breath of a laugh from the boy before he turned his attention back to the clothing rack. A moment of music filled quiet settled.

"So where'd you go shopping before?" He asked.

"Eden...mostly," Leanna replied.

"Eden?" Yuj sounded surprised. "I've been going there for most of my clothes lately. Nothing decent anywhere else. What's your favorite store?"

Leanna found it strange discussing fashion with a boy. She rarely spoke of the topic otherwise but somehow she didn't imagine it going this way. "Uh, there's a small shop on the corner of Bluegull and Wayfarer that I liked. Kind of casual but still...pretty?"

Yuj regarded the answer before offering a single nod, "Haven't been but I've seen it."

"Pardon my asking but how did a boy become so smart with fashion?" Leanna asked.

Yuj gave a smile and dropped his head as if he was asked that question enough times. "It's a skill I honed meticulously over the years," He spoke before feigning interest in a men's jacket on a clothing rack before muttering, "that and some fashion magazines never hurt. So after this I know a pretty good place to get some ice cream. We can head over there when we're done?"

Leanna offered an optimistic smile and nod, though part of it felt forced. "Sounds great. I love ice cream."

"Did you find something?" Lebreau asked, returning to the group with an expectant expression. Leanna held up the lilac sundress and Lebreau considered it.

"Mm, looks a little plain by itself, doesn't it?"

"I could wear a jacket?" Leanna suggested. It was nice knowing there was some progress being made but she had to marvel at the situations she kept getting into. One day she's cleaning a beach side bar, the next she's talking fashion with a boy who had very distracting hair. One thing after another it seemed.

As Yuj relayed his suggestion for ice cream to Lebreau, Leanna noticed something else hanging on the rack and lifted it for a better look; an open front gray overall style dress. It was cute. Leanna looked between both garments before striking an idea.

~x~x~x~

The buzz of excitement from the mall seemed to have followed them to the cafe, since once they returned they were quickly back to serving customers. Already people were on the beach, some strolling, others ready with picnic blankets. The earlier to arrive, the better spot could be grabbed before the beach became crowded. The bar was filled with the sounds of customers, clinking bottles and the aroma as Lebreau was busy behind the counter preparing meals. In light of the busier service, she enlisted several NORA boys to bus tables or take orders. Something which any other day might have been a hassle to do, but the flow of business was only going to increase as the evening went on. The boys could spare a little time before the fireworks to keep things going smoothly.

Leaning against the outside wall of the bar's patio with his arms folded, Yuj had allowed himself a five minute break as there were no tables to clean. His mind had begun to wander when he was able to pick up on a conversation!

"C'mon, Lebreau, please?" Said the voice of a boy. "Just this one last time, please?"

"We won't lose it this time!" Whined the voice of a second boy.

"That's what you said the last time," Replied Lebreau without taking her eyes off the menu on the counter. "And where did it end up? In a tree,"

"We weren't aiming for the tree!" Complained the boys.

Yuj didn't need to look in to know the voices belonged to the trouble causing twins, Rix and Den. What they were begging the barmaid for was one of the beach balls tethered to the ceiling in a fishing let. There were several of varying colors and sizes and the boys were keen to get another one. The boys began to chant 'Please, please, please?' in tandem which was slowly riling Lebreau's nerves as she was busy making an adjustment to the specialty menu.

Yuj's attention was grabbed and he entered the bar just as Lebreau waved a hand to silence the boys.

"Enough, enough!" She called before spotting Yuj and sighing, "Could you get one of those down for them? They won't leave without one," She gestured to the beach balls. The twins made a fist in the air in triumph.

Yuj offered the kids a rather proud smirk, seeing as how not anyone could get their way with Lebreau before reaching up and pulling down the net enough for a yellow ball to fall into his palm. He held it over the heads of the twins, having them jump several times in an attempt to snatch it.

"Just give it to them." Lebreau warned, wanting their fussing out of her bar before any customers were bothered.

"Fine, fine. Catch," Yuj gave a toss of the ball to Den, who wasn't exactly the best with reflexes. It bounced out of his hand and proceeded roll its way out the front door. Yuj could feel the burning gaze of the barmaid before he quickly added,

"I gave it to 'em! Ya didn't say how,"

The ball rolled in nearly a straight line towards the stairs at the same time someone had been walking down the deck. Tan shoes staggered back at the last second to allow the ball and the two racing boys to pass down the stairs and onto the beach before checking to see if the coast was clear. Holding a broom in her hands, Leanna leaned forward in slight surprise at nearly being run over by children, saw there were no more coming and stepped into view of the bar

Lebreau let out a sound of admiration as she leaned over the bar's counter.

"Oh, Leanna, you look adorable!" She said. Leanna wasn't sure how to reply but looked down at her outfit as if she almost forgot she was wearing it. The lilac dress peeked out from under the open front gray overall dress, paired with black leggings and tan shoes of Leanna's choosing.

"You really think so?" She asked, remaining to the side of the entrance as more customers entered. Compared to them, she was modesty covered up. She looked somewhat proud of herself until she noticed who else was also looking. Suddenly her face was warm and she quickly looked down. She was wearing the dress he picked, was it strange to feel embarrassed being seen in it now?

"I don't think anything else in the mall would have suited you more. Did you finish sweeping up the deck?"

Leanna nodded, "I swept what I could,"

"Perfect, that's all I need done for now. Go ahead and hang out." Lebreau added, moving back to the register as she awaited the customers orders. Leanna had been about to set down the broom against the wall when Yuj voice spoke just behind her,

"Looks nice!" He remarked, sounding rather impressed.

In surprise, Leanna let go of the broom and it clattered against the wall before nearly sliding down. With quick reflexes she snatched it back and set it correctly.

"Uh, thanks!" She blurted, trying to recover but not knowing how. She stood straight to face him and offered the best smile she could. She prayed to Etro her face wasn't as red as it felt. "I couldn't have found it without...your help." Her voice lost confidence and barely managed to escape her mouth. "The dress, I mean. Uh...thanks." She muttered. She did not know how to handle herself when she was startled.

Yuj was holding a knuckle to his mouth in an attempt to stop from laughing. For the first time since she arrived she'd finally shown some emotion. Not that he disregarded anything before but what he just witnessed.

"Hey, calm down," He managed to say once the urge to chuckle died. "It's just a dress. Think nothing of it,"

"Oh," Leanna looked a little concerned, "But I will!" The change in her voice caught Yuj's attention. Leanna looked both worried and determined before her expression softened. "I mean, this was a gift. Honestly, it's not something I'm used to receiving so...I want to think everything of it."

Her words were heavy, like there was more to it than just what she was saying. Clothing or not, these held something special to her even more than just a show of appreciation. For a second, Yuj could almost see Leanna's mind going back to something else. He wanted to say something, anything, to keep her mind from going back to how she was the day she arrived. He even felt his hand move to touch her shoulder.

"I'll try really hard to wear it every day if I can!" The spin in Leanna's personality caught him off guard. Her face was so determined almost instantly after having looked so sad, he wouldn't be surprised if she did try. Then he couldn't help it and started laughing. Leanna was left confused and flustered as she really couldn't control anything she said when she was nervous.

~x~x~x~

The tension in the air became more and more concentrated as Phoenix was dimming in the atmosphere, the sun set was brilliant as always but for tonight it was the sunset that the people were excited for. All afternoon the sounds of machinery could be heard all throughout Bodhum as the ring just offshore was being built. It would contain the array of fireworks for the show, the shell itself being a signature feature to the festival.

The sky darkened, and the people began to gather on the beach as the suspense began to build. In the distance, the glow of the mall lights lit up the buildings along the shore, as soon the darkness would take over the water and the beach. The light of the city above began to shimmer through the darkness but compared to the fireworks, they'd be obsolete.

Leanna had moved away from the crowd gathering within the bar and found refuge on the walkway to the garage. It wasn't the best view but she couldn't complain. She was prepared to stand there all night if she had to. Then her heart skipped a beat as the dome of the fireworks shell lit up, glowing like a giant iridescent bubble. There was a resounding cry of excitement from the beach. Then someone rushed behind Leanna, then someone else. A crowd of the NORA boys were racing off towards the garage. Leanna wondered just where they were going when the show was about to start when an excited Maqui staggered to a stop and waved Leanna over.

"C'mon, hurry! We're going to watch the fireworks from the garage roof!" Maqui beamed, taking Leanna's hand. She allowed herself to be pulled at a fast walk to the side of the garage until one by one the boys clambered up the ladder onto the roof. Leanna was hesitant but was up the ladder quickly and found a spot to sit beside Maqui.

"Ah, shoot!" Exclaimed the boy named Acai. "Did we forget to bring the sodas?"

"Yuj said he'd do it since Leb has him on bottle duty."

Leanna felt her arms and legs trembling with nerves. This was it, she felt her entire reason for being here was leading up to this one moment. Maqui had been asking Leanna which ones were her favorite, to which she could only reply one or two she'd seen on television before when there was a long moment of silence, and then a gold flare shot up into the sky with a screaming whistle. There was another chorus of excited shouts as the flare exploded into a circle of dots. Then another, and another. Soon an entire crescendo of exploding colors began to fill the dome. For being so close to shore, the dome must have had a deafening quality because for all the fireworks, it wasn't as loud as it could have been. There were pom poms, flares, draping sparks and even some with spiral designs of every shape and color, blending together and overlapping. The crowd was in awe.

Leanna's eyes soon began to burn when she realized she hadn't blinked and quickly rubbed her eyes. The boys were slowly going back to conversation, jostling each other around but still respective of the event.

"Hey!" Greeted a voice from the ladder. "Brought the sodas." And with that, Yuj set down the bag of canned drinks before taking a seat. Leanna hadn't even noticed it had been on the other side of her. She was completely mesmerized by the fireworks, so much so she could hardly allow a thought for breath or blink. Her expression ranged from surprise one moment, to awe the next, to amusement. She felt like a child, and for once, didn't care who might have been watching.

"First time, I take it?" Yuj finally timed a pause in the fireworks to ask, holding out a can of orange logo-ed soda.. Leanna looked startled at the question, taking her eyes off the show for a moment to glance at him then the drink before accepting it.

"Yeah," She nodded. She held the drink against her knee, still too amazed to do anything but stare. Her voice was distracted but she managed a conversation, "Before...I'd only ever seen it on TV Sometimes, my mom and I would go to Eden's downtown area, they have a huge TV there set up on a building and they'd broadcast it there. I thought it was the closest I'd ever get to seeing it." There was a spectacular wave of spiraling fireworks.

"It doesn't even compare," Her voice wavered. "If only she was here..." Her voice trailed away. Her expressions of awe and wonder faded to something else. She stilled smiled, but it was sad.

Yuj gave a heavy smile, though she didn't see it. He hung his head, adjusting to sit with his arms propped on his knees. "Yeah," He replied, "Sometimes I wish mine were here too..."

A look dawned upon Leanna and she looked from the fireworks to Yuj. Her expression was sad and surprised, but she still offered a smile. Just for a moment there was a connection. It wasn't the best kind, but it was a sense of familiarity.

"Y..Yuj?" Leanna piped up, her voice sincere. She could feel his gaze and quickly turned to look back at the fireworks. "I didn't get a chance to say it before but...thank you. From what Maqui told me, if it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't be here. Maybe...but not all in one piece." She suddenly felt embarrassed at his gaze. "I mean! Uh..." She fumbled. "I don't know what I'm trying to say but...I'm sorry for landing on you that day?"

A laugh escaped Yuj. He'd almost forgotten that. Almost. "That was my fault anyway. I guess I should say sorry for the whole mix up after that but, uh, you make a pretty convincing guy." Yuj managed to return the smile to a suddenly flustered Leanna before a rowdy shout from the boys just down the rooftop shattered the moment.

It wasn't just any shout of excitement, as the boys were pointing up at something. And to their surprise, there was something else happening within the shell of the fireworks.

"No way," Replied the voice of Gadot in disbelief.

"Is that-"

"Snow?!" Maqui blurted. They were small but it could easily be seen that a one seater airbike had entered the dome and begun a steady cruise around the fireworks.

One of the boys down the roof grinned, "1,000 gil says they get hit by one,"

"You're on!" Replied another boy.

"Don't say that!" Maqui interjected. "I just fixed that bike!"

"How can you tell?" Retorted one of the other boys.

Their bantered faded away to Leanna though she was still interested at just how much of a daring move she was witnessing. Then just as the one boy had said, there was a mighty burst of pink sparks that sent the airbike barreling to the side before shooting out of the dome. There was a responsive 'Ooh!' from both the NORA boys and whoever on the beach had happened to witness the event.

"Oh!" Leanna gasped, "I hope they're okay..."

"Probably just partially deaf," Yuj replied with amusement before taking a drink of soda. "So have you made a wish yet?"

Leanna cracked open her soda, careful as it fizzled over her hand. "A wish?" She asked before remembering, "Oh, no, not yet. I wanna think of a good one so I don't waste it. I might not get a wish next time."

The fireworks continued on, and even though there were repeat colors and designs, nothing was getting old. Every color burst was like it was the first time she saw it, only more spectacular than before. They would be ending soon and she began to feel rushed. But her mind was clear, she knew what she wanted. She rested one hand over the other and rested them against her lips. And she made her wish.


	9. Chapter 9

The memories of the fireworks floated in her mind all through the night, even into her dreams. But upon awakening the following morning, she was reminded today was the day she would return. The hopeful feeling she had held onto since the festival turned into dread. This was a horrible idea, returning would only bring more tension. It was better to just stay gone, right? But even that felt wrong. She had to go back. That place was her home, whether she felt apart of it or not.

She was confused, frustrated and lost again. Just when she'd finally found some level of a happy place it felt as if she fell from it.

She remained quiet during the early morning as she sat stiffly on her bed. All packed up and ready to leave. To go home. Why didn't she feel happy? Elated? Ecstatic? She felt like she was going to be sick.

Unable to eat, she passed on breakfast and with Lebreau, the two arrived at the train station.

Phoenix had barely begun to burn in the sky when Leanna stood at the front steps. Strange, only a few days ago she stood before a train station in the hopes of leaving. Now it was the opposite. What was waiting on the other end?

"Well," Lebreau broke the silence as Leanna was focused on the building. "I guess I won't be seeing you for a while."

Leanna looked to Lebreau in surprise at the ominous sounding farewell. Lebreau noticed her worried expression and smiled to calm her down.

"You're going home. I don't expect to see you again until you've made proper vacation plans."

Leanna smiled, although feebly. Vacation plans were slim knowing she'd probably be grounded until she was thirty five. "Yeah," She managed to reply with a nod.

Lebreau's eyebrows knitted into concern as she wheeled Leanna around for a hug. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too." Leanna replied into the woman's shoulder, her voice shaking more than she'd hoped. "But I'll visit. I promise. Once a month."

"That sounds like a plan." The two stood in silence, nervous silence on Leanna's part.

"Thank you so much, for everything." The girl spoke up, noticing her eyes were wet. "I don't think I'd be here if it hadn't been for you guys. Tell everyone else thank you for me?"

"You got it. Now hurry so you can get the first train outta here." Lebreau gave her a confident smile before patting her shoulder. Leanna nodded, trying to hide the her watering eyes as she turned. Then with bold strides, she walked towards the station. At the doors, she turned to see Lebreau still standing by her airbike. The barmaid raised a hand and waved. Leanna returned the gesture before walking inside.

"I hope everything goes okay..." Lebreau thought with a sigh of relief. This was the right path, but somehow it felt lonely.

A heavy feeling followed the barmaid as she pulled her airbike into the lot behind the garage and got off. She wasn't about to let the seperation bring down her day. Now that the festival was over, she needed to clean up the bar.

Funny, she spent days leading up to the event cleaning the bar, and now after she'd be doing it all over again. Not much work was needed, only that the late night partying lead to sand being tracked in everywhere and trash to litter the beach and bar.

She busied herself sweeping the floorboards, remembering how often Leanna was doing this task. It was a boring chore, how in Cocoon did that girl enjoy doing this?

Outside, several members of NORA were on trash duty, using grabbing tools to lift the wrappers and plastic cups off the sand and into trashbags.

"So she's really gone, huh?" Asked Gadot as he leaned against the doorframe of the bar.

"Yeap, back home to where she belongs." Lebreau replied, keeping her voice even as she swept the dirt off the patio and back outside where it, too, belonged.

"Place seems kind of empty." Gadot went on.

"Don't remind me. I finally got a girl to hang around with and talk about girl things to and then in a poof she's gone."

Gadot laughed at the reply, though it was true. Several of NORA's members were girls but they were busy with either school or their own jobs. Hardly any had the time to stop by and just hang around.

"Maybe I should visit Eden one of these days." Lebreau mused as she leaned on the broom handle. "I haven't been there in months. Maybe there's a new fashion trend I can get into."

"Yeah, take Yuj with you." Gadot agreed. "He'd probably show you all the best places."

Lebreau's thoughtful expression broke into a smile as she shook her head.

"Uh guys," Came a voice from the back room.

"Hey, Maqui, I didn't know you were here."

"I got in earlier, but guys, you should hear what's going on on the military band!"

Maqui's expression and voice were urgent, prompting worry from Lebreau and Gadot. They both followed the mechanic to the other room where the radio was set up. Lebreau pulled one large headphone over her ear and listened.

"...What? No, that can't be." She replied, stepping back. Gadot gestured with a nod to prompt an answer.

"They're saying...they found something in the vestige. Hang on." The urgency in the room was affecting her. She crossed the room to the unused TV and turned it on. Flipping through several channels she finally found the news station.

"-urgent Sanctum Bulletin," Responded a woman's sharp voice. "Late last night, officials confirmed the presence of a Pulse fal'Cie inside the city of Bodhum. Acting with fal'Cie Eden's approval, authorities declared a state of emergency."

"No..." Came a whisper from Lebreau. "The entire district will be quarantined in response to this crisis. This is a Sanctum Bulletin-"

The woman went on to repeat the previous announcment while the occupants of the room fell into a stunned silence.

"A fal'Cie?" Asked Gadot. "In the vestige? That thing's been sittin' there for 500 years!"

"500 years with a fal'Cie in it." Replied Maqui. "There wasn't even a door on that thing, remember? Maybe it opened somehow."

"Quarantined..." Lebreau murmured. "What, the Sanctum's going to keep us trapped here with a fal'Cie? What kind of emergency is that?" She turned to Gadot. "Where's everyone else?"

Gadot shrugged. "It's too early in the morning to tell. They should be getting here soon."

Soon was not soon enough. But after half an hour two NORA members had entered the bar.

"Leb!" Shouted a blond boy. "The speakers at the mall are playing some Sanctum message."

"We know, Edric. We just heard it on the news." Lebreau replied with her hands on her hips. "We're on lockdown until they figure out what the heck they're doing."

"Looks like PSICOM finally gets some use." Joked Acai from behind Edric.

"They're just gonna move that thing right?" Maqui prompted.

"Who knows how PSICOM works. They might obliterate all of Bodhum."

"Don't say that!" Maqui started.

"I'm gonna assume everyone here's heard what's happening." Came the voice of Yuj as the boy came up the last steps of the patio deck. "The entire mall is in a panic."

"The entire city is in a panic." Lebreau responded as she stood by the counter. "Hopefully she made it out in time..."

The road just above the bar slowly began abuzz with the rushing of cars. No doubt the people of Bodhum were racing to the train station to get the next train out of there. No one wanted to be assosiated with a Pulse fal'Cie even though it had been evidentally dormant within the vestige since before Bodhum even sprang up.

There was an ear splitting screech from outside. None that a human could make. A tremendous boom rattled the bottles on the shelves.

"What the-!" Gadot shouted. Without a second wasted, the six rushed out to the patio deck.

Arcs of blue light stretched through the sky, their source; the vestige. Clouds had accumulated around the tower.

"What's going on?" Asked Maqui. The only thing his question was responded with was another screeching scream. The group covered their ears as they realized it wasn't just coming from the vestige's direction. It was the vestige. The orante carving of a head atop the tower had it's mouth agape as the second scream ended.

"Okay, who knew the tower could make noises?" Edric asked, uncovering his ears as a silence fell over them again. It was as if the ocean itself had stopped, the birds gone, everything was quiet.

Then they saw several dots take to the air. Airbikes in pursuit of a single bike rocketing towards the vestige.

"What is going on." Yuj asked, with a miniscule pause between each word as he and the others were transfixed on the chase.

"I dunno, but it doesn't look good." Gadot gestured to the garage. "Guys get to the airbikes. Let's get a closer look."

As they made a quick scramble to the garage, three airbikes were powered on, two to each one. One after the other they barreled out of the lot and onto the dirt road.

Moving towards the quickest routes towards the vestige. An ominous trail of black smoke pinpointed them to where they should probably go.

What they found was the wreckage of an airbike, kneeling nearby was an injured Snow. Now knowing he was the one being chased by the task force, Lebreau was quick to usher instruction to return to the bar before they were spotted.

Since the commotion much had quieted down. Several NORA members lingered outside, keeping an eye on the goings on of the vestige and reporting any changes. Thankfully, no more screams had followed.

"So you're telling me," Lebreau inturrupted Snow's explanation. "that Serah is a l'Cie, and you thought you'd just go to the fal'Cie that did it to her and just ask for it to be removed?" Her question hit hard. Snow remained quiet, holding the icepack to his shoulder where he was certain he'd landed on it wrong.

"I didn't know what else to do." He replied, his voice somber. "The second we left Lightning's house, we were ambushed by PSICOM guys. They came from everywhere. Shouting orders and pointing guns. We had to run somewhere. I just wanted to protect her."

"But now she's stuck inside the vestige. And that's on high security. We're not getting anywhere near it." Gadot chimed in, having been standing outside with the others.

"I gotta tell Lightning." Snow made a move to stand but with a grunt of pain he sat back onto the sofa.

"You're not going anywhere. Who knows how bad you're hurt." Lebreau chided. "We'll see her as soon as possible, okay?"

Maqui had been at the radio desk since they'd returned, listening to everything he could on the military band. "They're going to move the vestige!" He announced from the door. "They're sending in the Palamecia to do it!"

"Great, so they'll remove it. And that'll be that?" Prompted Gadot.

"Well...they're saying something else..about..a Purge...?"


	10. Chapter 10

The sounds, the sounds, they were so loud. Pounding into her head she could hear the sounds of shouting, yelling, confused cries and demands. People shoved and pushed. Tempers flared. Alarmed children cried for their mothers.

Hours had passed and still the sounds were coming from all directions. Bombarding her thoughts, not allowing her a moment to think. For some time now, she'd huddled against a pillar, just beside a potted plant of fake foliage. Her knees were pressed tight against her chest, her hands clapped around her ears in the hopes of blocking out the noise. The air itself was a live with tension. No place was safe. The station floor, all the floors, were crowded with people who had fled there after hearing the announcement on the news.

Everyone wanted out. Everyone wanted to escape. But Bodhum was now under quarantine. No one was leaving.

Panic had been sitting in her stomach for a long time, longer than what she was used to. Her heart beat fast, she felt sick. Earlier that morning she was filled with dread of returning home. Now she was feeling dread but the reason was unknown. She did not know anything anymore. She did not know where she was going, if everything was going to be okay, if she was going to be okay, if Bodhum would be okay. She did not know. And she was terrified.

Still, she huddled against the pillar for protection as her glassy purple eyes watched frantic people run this way and that.

The problem had started when that announcement had come onto the speakers, onto all the channels on the tv. That's when the worry set in.

A Pulse fal'Cie had been discovered in the vestige. That big creepy glowing tower that stood over Bodhum, and had done so for the last few hundred years. Remnants of the war, she remembered reading somewhere. It had been brought in to be used to rebuild something but was then just left there.

Left there was a fal'Cie who just decided now was a good time to wake up.

Shouts came from this way and that, demanding order, everyone should stop yelling and calm down. But people were very hard to calm in mass when they were in a panic. It wasn't until several gunshots had been fired that silence finally fell.

Several officers had opened fire to the ceiling, luckily missing the glass parts.

"Everyone will remain calm! Anyone so much as screams again will find themselves silenced!" He shouted.

"You are all under quarantine. You cannot leave this station. Is that understood?" Several shouts came from somewhere in the back of the mob but fell quiet again when the man raised his gun.

"Until further orders are instructed, all of you are to remain calm."

Now that the commotion had settled into uneased quiet murmurs, Leanna removed her hands from her ears and looked up. So many people, all wondering the same thing.

A fal'Cie from Pulse had never been discovered in Cocoon, so naturally there was a state of confusion, even from authorities. They wanted to keep everything controlled, that included closing down the train station.

Leanna stood on shaking knees, holding her dufflebag at her front as she looked around at the people. Old, young, women, men, they were all here. Everyone who was in Bodhum was stuck here, and all they could do was sit and wait until told to do something else.

She remained at her spot, glad that the space near the pillar was mostly empty. She could calm down some.

A hand on her shoulder brought that sense of panic right back up. Too fast, it seemed, as she stamped her feet in a frightened start and yelped.

"Hey! It's okay! It's me!" Came a voice Leanna almost didn't recognize for a second.

"Des-..!" Leanna stammered, unable to finish his name. Her eyes were wide in shock, taking in the face of a man she'd all but forgotten these past few days.

The man smiled, raising a hand to the back of his head in a nervous laugh. "S-surprise?"

~x~x~

"Purging Bodhum, that's a brilliant plan." Retorted Lebreau as she paced back and forth in the bar.

"Getting rid of the fal'Cie isn't enough. They think we're all contaminated by some disease it brought with it!" She was frustrated, upset, every sort of negative emotion at the situation they were in.

"They haven't announced it on the news." Snow commented, leaning back in the chair. In the hour or so since his returned he'd started feeling better. He could pinpoint the locations of the pain anyway. "Must not be official yet."

Lebreau continued to pace, one hand folded across her stomach linked to her other elbow while the other scratched at her hair, messing up the already messy bun. "Who decides these things?"

"Eden apparently. The fal'Cie, not the city. Well, technically the city." Snow replied.

"My question is, what are we gonna do?" Gadot asked, the bar, now full with most of team NORA, was quiet.

"We're not gonna sit here and let the Sanctum just boot us out of our city." Replied one of the other boys.

"And just how would we do that, doofus?" Replied another. "They're the Sanctum. No one can stop them!"

"Lightning needs to know what happened. " Said Snow, standing from his chair.

"I pity the man who has to tell her that." Muttered Yuj, who'd been leaning against the counter. Snow gave a regretful grin and sigh.

"That'll be me. You might want to get the funeral started." Snow replied, walking towards the back office.

"Hang on, " Gadot stood from his chair and joined him. "Someone has to bring your body back.."

The mood was lifted only slightly as the pair left.

"So what are we gonna do?" Asked Yuj.

Lebreau had stopped pacing and stared at the floor in thought.

"We're not sitting around like ducks waiting for PSICOM to come in and shove us out." She replied to him.

"You're suggesting?"

"We leave before they get the jump on us."

~x~x~

"See? Told you," Replied one of the boys in a whisper. "Since everyone's run to the station to get out, security isn't as tough on the other exits."

It was true. Only a few airbikes had been parked by the road. The expanses of houses and feilds had ended, dwindling to shorelined oceans. In several spots around the islands, roads disappeared into the distance, crossing over water as they connected to other landmasses. One lead to Euride Gorge, for those who wanted to take a sceneic route, Another lead to Palumpolum, and a few others lead who knew where.

Since no one had thought to try here first, the guards were lax.

A perfect time to strike.

In the hours since Snow and Gadot's departure to tell the ever frightening elder Farron of her sister's fate, the rest of the group had taken to scouting their means of escape.

It would be a piece of cake, granted they don't get caught. Hidden within the shrubbery of a nearby acre or so of forest, the group had settled to think of a plan.

"When do we move out?" Asked Lebreau, who had taken initiative of the mission.

"Their saying the purge will happen in the morning. They're taking them to the nearest route to Cocoon's opening."

Lebreau thought for a moment. "The only train route close enough leading outta Bodhum goes straight to Hanging Edge. That's about as close as you can get."

"So what, they're gonna take us to the edge of Cocoon and boot us out?" Asked the brunette boy.

"Is there even a way down? Did they build an elevator or something..?" Acai answered with his question. The boys shrugged, who knew what the Sanctum could pull.

"Maybe they set up a diving board. One by one," He gestured with his fingers in a walking motion before springing off an invisible board. Complete with the sound effect of a whispered scream of terror and the sound of an ominous crash the group broke into a small fit of laughter.

"All right," Leb thumbed over her shoulder. "That's our ticket out of here. We'll wait for Gadot to hopefully return with Snow before we start rounding up everyone we can."

~x~x~x~

"So you came all the way here just to find me?" Leanna and Desdon had taken a seat near the pillar. The two of them held sodas in their hand from a nearby vending machine. Desdon had explained everything that had happened, at least after he arrived in Bodhum the day before.

"I was worried about you. All we knew what that a ticket to Bodhum was on the card registry so it was our only lead."

Leanna mentally chided herself for not using cash, but somehow she was relieved that there had been a way to find her.

"I wandered around for hours yesterday. I didn't realize Bodhum was such a big place. And it was crowded with people waiting for the fireworks to start."

"It's made up of six islands..." Leanna said as if that was enough of a reason to explain his lack of locating her sooner.

"Well, I wasn't sure where to look. Figured the mall would be the best place to find you but obviously I didn't." The brunette smiled, again embarrassed. "I ended up hanging around until the fireworks. Man, they were amazing."

"You didn't have to do this. If my guardian asked you, you could have said no." Leanna said.

"He didn't - ask me, I mean." He replied.

"You came here all on your own?"

"I thought it'd be easy to find you. Like how it is in the movies so...yeah."

"Did you tell anyone?"

"...Maybe the house staff so they wouldn't worry where I was..." Desdon admitted with a bowed head.

"So...we're stuck in Bodhum and no one knows where exactly we are..." Leanna leaned her head against the wall. "Did he even notice I was gone?" She hadn't even opened her soda and the condensation was gathering under her cupped hands.

"Not openly. But some of us could tell he was worried. He's a smart man but doesn't handle worry very well. He paced a lot and muttered to himself when he thought no one was looking. At first I wasn't sure why, until I noticed I hadn't seen you anywhere."

So he noticed, she thought dully, the man can show worry, that was a start. She was still slightly upset there wasn't mention of a search party.

"He wanted to keep the whole situation quiet. Didn't want to jump to conclusions I guess. Maybe he wanted to think you'd gone out for a walk. "

"He thought rationally, logically, every kind of 'ally'." Leanna replied with flat humor as she turned the soda can in her hands. "That sounds just like him. I should be surprised but I'm not."

The mob of people had dispersed, emptying from the doorways and finding places to sit or stand. No other news had come over the broadcasting system.

"At least he knows where we are now, with that newscast. This is all my fault." Leanna spoke, not looking up from her soda can.

"No, Leanna, it's-"

"I should have just stayed in Eden. None of this would have happened." Leanna affirmed, her voice shaking but hard. In the fading of panic and worry came the guilt. "It's enough that I'm stuck here, now you're stuck here too." She spoke, her vision becoming blurry through the tears. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"We're all stuck here." Desdon comforted. "This would have happened anyway. PSICOM would have found the fal'Cie."

"But we would be at home! Watching all this happening on TV! Not actually being in it. I should h-have just stayed h-home." Sobs broke her sentence as a rush of emotion came forward. Just like she had been on her first day in Bodhum, she was back into tears.

Desdon set down his half finished soda and placed an arm around Leanna's shoulders. A forward gesture considering their formal friendship but the situation called for it.

"It's okay." He replied. "Honestly, I feel better knowing you're all right. The past two business parties have been painfully boring having to listen to other sons and daughters talk about things I don't care about."

A feeble laugh came from Leanna, who'd burried her face in her arm.

"Thank you, Desdon."

~x~x~

Night had fallen on Bodhum. The perfect mask to hide the group of some couple dozen people gathered near the exit to Euride Gorge.

There was a large floodlight illuminating the barricaded road, revealing a total of fifteen guards patrolling the area from what they could see in the distance.

"So what's the plan?" Asked a wide eyed Maqui as he stood in the cover of the treeline.

"I got an idea." Replied Snow, who had rejoined the group without a scratch. Although he had endured a few choice curse swords from a livid Lightning before she rushed out.

Snow turned to the group of whispering people. "I need everyone to stay quiet. No one moves except those in team NORA. We got you guys out here, we're gonna see you safely out of town. That won't work if you guys go and get yourselves caught."

Snow looked to the few NORA members standing beside him. "We'll go ahead and try to open a path. When I give the signal, I want all of you on the airbikes ready to blast through before reinforcements arrive. We'll try to take the airbikes from the troops so more of you have a chance of getting somewhere."

He had such control in his voice. The group of people remained quiet as they listened, some murmuring their agreement to the terms.

"Let's go," Snow replied in a low tone to his companions. "We're goin in my style."

Maqui was the last to follow suit behind the jogging group. "Hey! That's not a plan! Wait!"


	11. Chapter 11

Her slumber was interrupted by the sounds of orders being shouted. People were startled, and the quiet that had settled in the station throughout the night was stirred up again. PSICOM soldiers were walking around telling people to start lining up in certain parts of the station. Leanna was somewhat aggravated. They could have just as well given the orders calmly without having to yell. They had no concern over how stressed everyone already was.

It was difficult for her to wake, and only once she realized she had been leaning on Desdon's shoulder did she bolt up. They hadn't moved from their little corner near the potted plant.

"Wh-what time is it?" Leanna asked, rubbing her eyes and trying to get the taste of stale soda out of her mouth to no avail.

"Quarter to eight." Desdon replied, stretching his arms forward before getting to his feet. "Looks like they're finally moving us out of here."

"Where to, though?"

Desdon didn't answer. None of them knew where they were going. No, they didn't want to think about where they were going.

They followed their orders and moved to the station platform to line up along with the others. Up ahead, people were being handed some folded clothing and told to enter the bathrooms. The people who came out were wearing gray robes, accented with black designs and a hood. It looked...tribal.

Purge robes.

Everything was starting to feel all too real now.

The ones who were dressed were fed into another line that boarded the first train.

A strange sort of gloom settled over the station. No one yelled, no one rioted, no one asked questions. They had all accepted whatever fate was being handed to them. There was nothing they could do.

The line moved slowly. Agonizingly slowly. Leanna was stuck in a cycle of calm, then panic, then calm again. She thought she would be sick.

There was a commotion. Further back down the line, a couple had started to run.

They didn't make it far.

The sound of gunfire punctured Leanna's mind and she covered her mouth, fearing she would break down in tears if she so much as let one sound out. Desdon's arm was wrapped around her back, holding her near him a the two took their steps forward.

The first train left and another pulled in. Half of the Purge victims were gone. Would they be seen again on the other side? Somewhere down the line, word traveled that they were headed to a place called Hanging Edge. It had once been a city, centuries ago. But because it was too close to Cocoon's opening the people had evacuated. The trains still went there though, for whatever reason. Perhaps it was for this reason.

Leanna and Desdon were at the front of the line, handed their robes, and instructed to change. Leanna looked over the robes. It felt final. Once she pulled this on, she was forever marked a Purge victim. She stood outside of the bathrooms with a resigned expression. She was instructed to hold her hands together and a pair of large flat shackles were clicked on. She felt like a prisoner.

She hardly looked up when Desdon joined her in the line to the train. Everyone looked the same now in their robes. Even more so that they refused to look up from the ground. One by one they boarded the train, taking their seats to either side.

Another hour passed before the train was deemed full and the doors closed. By now, Leanna was used to her feeling of anxiety and merely sat with it.

There was a pull, a rocking, and a gathering of momentum as the train began to pick up speed. Leaving Bodhum behind. Leaving life as they once knew...behind.

-x-x-x-

They were graced with the presence of a patrolling PSICOM officer every few minutes. Not that anyone was going to do anything now. They were trapped in a train. There was no where to run. They said the train ride would be around fifteen hours. They were given bottles of water and some sort of dehydrated, processed food bar but that was it.

Leanna stared at the wrapped food bar in her hand, she had read the nutritional facts on the back three times now. How long had it been? An hour? Two hours? Enough time had passed that a tense ease had settled over everyone. When the cabin was PSICOM free, they would whisper quietly to one another, if they were lucky enough to be sitting next to someone they knew.

The silence was broken between them when Desdon finally spoke. "Would it be a bad time to something?"

Leanna looked up. "It's always going to be a bad time now, so you can ask anything."

"Why'd you run away?"

She wasn't surprised. That was the one question she had prepped herself to be faced with. But in the recent events, she'd forgotten her answer. Did she even have an answer? She took a moment to think, her eyes never leaving the metal plated floor of the train.

"I didn't...like it. Being there. In that house. It wasn't for me." She took a breath. "I lived in a quite neighborhood in Palumpolum. Things there were easy and almost carefree. I grew up in that environment. And then suddenly I was moved. You know how when you buy a new fish, you're not supposed to dump them in the new water?"  
"Yeah?"  
"You're supposed to let the bag float in the water so it adjusts to the new temperature. And then put the fish in. For me, I was just thrown into the water, and left to adjust on my own. And then...that accident happened. And I didn't know what to do anymore. I had lost someone - the only person I had. I didn't know how to deal with anything anymore. I didn't have a person to run back to when things went bad. No one to tell me it was okay. Or give me advice.

"I had that man. That stranger - to me - that...my mother married. So I did the only thing I could think of. I closed myself." She couldn't find the right words to explain that emotion. That way of thinking. It just ... worked. "Then he became obsessed with work. He was hardly home anymore. And when he was, it wasn't like I wanted to talk to him. We were like two strangers living in the same house. Connected by one person who was no longer there."

She turned the food bar in her hand to look at the generic printed label. "I didn't mean to run away. Not for this long. I only meant to be gone the night of the fireworks. I used to go see them with my mom. But after moving it became difficult to find the time to go. I knew my guardian wouldn't bother taking time out of his schedule to go with me for one night but..."

"Hn?"

"I over heard him talking about something regarding my future. And I became upset. Here was this man, who hardly knows me, deciding what I should do with my life. I just wanted to escape. I wouldn't have the heart to say no to whatever he had planned, so I wanted a little time. I was going to go insane trapped behind that wall of obedience I had grown up with." She coughed into the collar of her hood. She wasn't used to talking this much. Her cough turned into a sob, which she quickly stifled with a hand.

"This is all my fault. I'm such an idiot."

"None of this is your fault. You're not an idiot. You're human. You have thoughts, wants, needs, other people would do the same."

-x-x-x-

The journey was dreadfully boring. All their belongings had been confiscated to another compartment. No one was allowed their phones or music. The children would sometimes complain, sometimes cry. The adults would have done the same, but they knew the gravity of the situation. There was no point in complaining now.

But somehow, Desdon had managed to smuggle in a card sized movie player. Almost literally card sized, small an thin, hidden somewhere in his shirt. The pair watched pre-recorded vidshows, trying to keep it hidden within his hands to look as if they were casually linked together. Whenever a patrolling officer would come by, he would quickly hide the card.

The trains windows had shown only canyons and wilderness. Places where after the war had been deserted. No one wanted to live so close to Cocoon's opening for fear of another attack. But soon all they could see were canyon walls. Darkness had settled in all around them. Either it was nighttime again, or they had entered a tunnel. There was no way of knowing where they were or how far they still needed to go. No one even knew where exactly Hanging Edge was. But somehow, an odd tension came through the compartments as if everyone just knew their destination was close.


	12. Chapter 12

PSICOM began to patrol again. A buzz seemed to fill the air as people were alert.

There was a tremendous vibration, like something rattled the entirety of the train. Everyone was jostled. There were cries of surprise from both adults and children. Was that normal or did they hit something?

The shackles on their arms simultaneously released and clattered to the floor. No one was sure what to do. Was this because they had arrived. Or another reason.

Noises came from down the compartment line. Distant, but they heard enough of them before to know someone was opening fire. The compartment doors slid open and a parade of civilians walked through. Some had discarded their robes already, and most of them were holding the guns PSICOM officers had only moments before. Leanna had watched as they walked through, lead by a woman with rose colored hair who looked like an officer of some sort. But not PSICOM.

"C'mon." Desdon pulled her to her feet.

A green light bloomed into all the windows, casting an eerie shade within the compartments. Leanna glanced out the window behind her seat to see the scenery had drastically changed. Everything was green, with strange buildings suspended along roads and railroads. There was no solid ground.

Hanging Edge really was hanging.

There were airborne vehicles shooting left and right and smaller, faster objects that she could have thought were missiles. Sounds of explosions rumbled train itself as it rocketed down the highway at fast speeds. There was a battle going on all around them. The train rattled harder than it had before, so hard almost everyone lost their footing and fell over. The train had ground to a hault by force. As people clammered back to their feet, something punctured the side of the compartment. Wires and debris scattered everywhere and someone yelled "Run!..I meant away!"

Whatever was going on, the people of the train heeded the man's yell and ran towards the exists in the other compartments. They rushed out onto the track ahead of the train. The only way they could go was forward. They ran as far as they deemed safe. No one knew what happened to the train or if they'd be able to return to it. All of their belongings were still in the storage compartment. Looking back, they could see...something. It was like a large robotic scorpion with a long tail, whipping wildly as if it were attacking something. Whatever that monster was, it had had enough of its assault. With large metal claws, it grabbed the end of the train compartment and hauled it off the track. The segment fell to the abyss below, leaving the rest of the train derailed but still on the track. All the civilians could do was watch.

A long moment past, something was holding the attention of the robotic creature, then there was an explosion. It fell sideways, tumbling off the track and down into the darkness. It would have been quiet, had airbikes not been rocketing around overhead. There was too much action and not enough time to ask questions.

Several civilians took initiative and ran back towards the derailed train. The first compartment was for storage. Once the door was open, they began pulling out the luggage one by one, setting them on the ground for their owners to locate them quickly. If they were lucky, they had packed something easy to carry. Many of them had been tourists, ready to leave from the station so they had only brought what they needed for their trip. Others, having been told of evacuation, had packed a little over zealously. They were told they were being evacuated off Cocoon onto Pulse. They weren't going empty handed.

Once the storage was empty, they returned to running down the railway towards the hanging highways that it crossed over. Leanna felt much better with her duffle bag back on her shoulder. There was a comfort in knowing she had all her things with her again. Same for Desdon, who hadn't exactly thought to pack much but an overnight bag.

The rail they were on collapsed just behind the train, giving them more incentive to get onto a solid standing highway. But many were blocked or collapsed from the battle that had been going on long before they arrived. They kept moving, avoiding the stations of soldiers where they could before they were finally stuck at a dead end. They stopped, taking a break, though they were anxious to keep moving.

"Where do we go now?" Was a question that echoed around the group. There was no solid ground in sight from where they stood.

Leanna had been overlooking the scene. Towers emitted a strange green light that lit up the whole city. Some areas were on fire, others smoking, and some flickered with gunfire light. Without the battle scene, it was both beautiful and frightening. So different from anything elsewhere in Cocoon. A city left abandoned for centuries, still functioning. She wondered what it might have been like living here.

"-nna!"

She heard a voice but failed to grasp they were calling her name. It sounded familiar.

"Leanna! Hey!"

They were calling her name. Leanna looked around but no one in their group was looking at her. She cast her glance around and found an adjacent highway. Someone was standing near the railing waving their hand.

"L-Lebreau? Lebreau!" Leanna shouted in disbelief. It was indeed Lebreau who had called her, standing on the other alley with a small group of civilians. The woman looked relieved.

"I'm glad to see you guys are still in one piece!" She shouted over the distance. A squad of fighter jets streamed past them. "We'll save the reunion tears for later! Try to get to this road way!" Lebreau beckoned with a hand before running to catch up with the moving group.

"O-okay." Leanna faltered, having been the only person to notice them. "How do I do that...?"

Their group had begun to move again once they found a connecting bridge. It wasn't easy to give the suggestion to move to the bridge left of them but somehow the idea got across. There was a tower of debris that had fallen over, blocking the middle of the roadway. Several men were at the bottom, helping others get by giving them a boost onto the pile. Once on the other side, the fugitives joined up with the other group. They were from the train that left before them and had been putting up a pretty stubborn resistance against the troops since they arrived. Upon seeing Lebreau, Leanna couldn't stop herself from breaking into a run towards the woman. Lebreau opened her arms and hugged the girl once she was within reach.

"I'm so sorry!" Lebreau said into her shoulder. "If I'd known what was going on I never would have-"

"It's okay." Leanna cut over her, stepping back from the hug but still holding Leb's arms. "No one knew this was going to happen."  
Lebreau gave an assured nod, then looked to the other lost looking fugitives. In a voice that was very commanding, as Leanna had learned to expect, she shouted so they could all hear.

"This way! We have a segment of road blocked off for fugitives to rest! Follow us!"

She and the group she had been with lead the way down a short maze of connecting roadways. That's all this city was. How anyone actually lived here was amazing. They passed large green pillars who's purpose was unknown, columns of flame from destroyed machinery, and quite a few run ins with PSICOM officers. Since most of the civilians had guns, they were cut through easily. Children were either carried or pulled along, their cries the only sounds anyone made as they followed.

The roadway they had saved was blocked off on either end by large boxes of cargo and other items, a great way to deter any soldiers coming to get them. Dozens of others sat or stood along this route. People Leanna recognized as NORA members walked in between them, giving words of encouragement and confidence, or helping with those who struggled in their escape because of injury. She and Desdon stood off to the side, before she heard another familiar voice nearby.

"There's still people out there." Said the voice of Snow a short ways down the bridge. He was talking to Yuj. "We'll get as many as we can, bring 'em here, and figure out what to do next. Leb, Gadot and Maqui left to scout ahead for a way over."

There was a sound of static and a loud voice came from seemingly out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time mixed in with the sounds of battle.

"On behalf of Cocoon's citizens, I would like to thank our brave Pulse pioneers and express our best wishes for a successful relocation. Your noble and selfless sacrifice ensures the continued safety and peace of our society. Were it not for this remarkable gesture, every resident of Cocoon; your family, your friends, your neighbors, would be exposed to the dangers of the world below. By choosing to leave Cocoon and participating in this migration-"

More static, feedback, and the voice stopped. Snow had stomped on the speaker to shut Dysly's speech off.

Participating? Choosing?

No one chose this. No one wanted this. But of course, they would feed the rest of Cocoon a false report so no one would panic. No one except those involved. For the first time in a while, Leanna felt anger. It mixed horribly with the other emotions she was already feeling. She watched idly as Snow continued talking to Yuj before leaving, climbing over the cargo boxes.

Leanna busied herself by kneeling on the floor, checking inventory of her bag. She wanted to be sure everything was still there. Thankfully, it was. Even her slingshot and puzzle sphere she bought in Palumpolum before heading over to Bodhum.

"Hey! Lee!" A voice above her greeted. Leanna looked up with surprise before quickly standing.

"Oh! Hi...Yuj." She lamely greeted back.

"Glad to see you're okay." Yuj offered a smile. Leanna failed to answer. "You are okay, right?" He prompted.

"Y-yeah! Well I mean... I'm not, you know...dead. So, I guess 'okay' is the best I can sum up how I am right now." Then she stopped when a thought hit her. "How'd you guys get here?"

"Snuck out on a backroad from Bodhum. Everyone was focused on the train station so it wasn't hard. We made it here a few hours before the train did. The thing is, so did they." He thumbed over his shoulder to the soldiers either running on the road ways or in the air jets. "Looks like they weren't planning on this being a smooth 'relocation'."

"So..we weren't going to Pulse?" Leanna surmised.

"Not likely alive..."

Leanna took a breath. Then remembered the other person standing beside her.

"Oh! This is, um, Desdon." She pointed to him. The two exchanged a wave and a nod. "He's from Eden. He...came to find me but..." She tried to have her voice sound anything but miserable. It didn't work.

"Well, I did find her..." Desdon shrugged.

Yuj looked down the road to the rest of the fugitives. "I better go do some patrols."

Leanna smiled as he left, and was caught with her gaze lingering by Desdon.

"Friend of yours?"

"Yeah." Leanna nodded. "When I was in Bodhum I met a group of people. The lady before, she let me stay at her house. They make a team called NORA. They go out and fight monsters that come into Bodhum."

"Sounds like you had an interesting time."

"I didn't go out with them to fight things. I had that happen the first day I was in Bodhum and I'd rather not do it again. I stayed at the cafe and helped out there. They were prepping for the Fireworks. It was fun."

Desdon only gave an appreciative smile and nodded. He wasn't sure what he had expected her to be doing for the few days she had gone missing. But at least she had been someplace both safe and interesting. He sighed and looked down the road. "Man, I'm starving."

"Me too..." Leanna agreed sullenly.


	13. Chapter 13

They had a - more or less - safe place to rest. They were off the train, away from the possibility, if there ever was one, of getting purged off Cocoon. Now they just had to deal with an army of PSICOM officers wanting them dead. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.

The newly joined survivors had gotten themselves comfortable, or as comfortable as possible considering the situation. There was a strange feeling in the air, like a mix of emotions. Tension, anxiousness, anger, fear. People wanted to run and people wanted to fight. But they were also resigned to the fact that if they didn't play their cards right, this could be the end of the line. Many had started to give up hope.

Leanna had been sitting on the ground beside Desdon, who had struck up a conversation with one of the other NORA members she remembered from her first day in Bodhum. His name was Goji. She hadn't removed her robe, nor had she dropped her hood. She simply forgot to. She was finally allowed time to think of something other than her own situation. But she couldn't think of what. Her mind just went empty as it sometimes did. But she heard something in the back of her mind. A crying sound. A sad sound. She realized it was an actual noise and snapped out of her empty day dream. The sound was coming behind her to her right.

It was a boy. He was sitting alone, crouched on the floor where he had started to cry. No one was around him, no one was even noticing him. Leanna tilted her head, then looked into her bag. She rummaged around and found two things.

The boy had looked up at her when she stood beside him. His face tear stained. He rubbed his eyes in that way boys did when they didn't want others to see they had been crying. But for him it was too late. He looked no older than six or seven. With sandy colored hair cut in a bowl shape and an outfit that suggested he was a Bodhum resident. His eyes were a gray color and probably would have looked pretty cute if he only smiled instead of cried. Leanna crouched down to see him eye to eye and held out something in her hand.

It was the granola bar she had received on the train. She hadn't eaten it for fear of getting an upset stomach on the journey with all her upturned emotions. She had removed the wrapper to make it look like any other food bar.

"Here." She offered. "You can have half of this. You're probably hungry, right?" She coaxed. The boy only looked at her with curiosity, then at the food bar before carefully taking it. He munched on it with little enthusiasm.

"Are you here alone?"

The boy nodded.

"Well, I'm here, so you're not alone, right?" Leanna tilted her head. The boy looked at her. At least he'd stopped crying. She beckoned for him to come close and using the outside of her purge robe, she wiped the remnants of the tears from his cheeks.

"My name is Leanna. What's yours?"

The boy didn't answer. He looked back at the ground. This was why Leanna had brought two things. She held up the second item and was pleased that it got his attention. After all, she was holding a white glowing orb covered in tiny shining lights in different patterns all over the place.

"Would you like to play with this?"

The boy nodded and Leanna showed him the basics of what the puzzle sphere did. She didn't go into how to solve the puzzles it provided, only how to move the colors around until it matched. The boy managed a giggle when it lit up after connecting several colors together.

"I never took you for a kid person." Someone remarked and Leanna looked up. Yuj had finished his patrols and was standing just to her left. The boy was too distracted by the lights to notice their new company. Leanna stood up, her hands laced in front of her.

"I'm not usually around kids often so I'm neither a kid person, nor am I not."

"Or maybe you're still a kid yourself." Yuj placed a hand on her head and shook it slightly and pushed down the hood. Leanna indignantly fixed the hood and stuck a hand underneath to smooth her hood hair.

"I am not a kid. I'm almost eighteen. But I had to grow up sooner than most kids so...technically I'm already twenty eight."

"Oh, well pardon me, _ma'm._ " Yuj raised both hands.

Leanna's hands were still on the rim of her hood, fearing another playful attack on her head. But none came.

"So, what do we do now?"

Yuj had been looking down the road where Snow and the others had disappeared. "Wait for them to come back. Then... well, we're kinda working on a step by step basis at the moment."

"Waiting for them to come back sounds like a good start. Should I do anything?"

"Nah, everything's pretty under control so far. Unless you have more of those puzzle spheres."

Leanna shook her head. Then Yuj prompted a question, his tone curious as if it was something he wasn't sure he was allowed to ask.

"So, what happened at the station?"

Leanna looked at him with mild surprise, then around him to think. "Well, I walked in and there were a bunch of people. But that's kinda normal for a station so I just stood around trying to find the ticket counter. But there were soldiers there - those guys - and they were yelling at people. They wouldn't let us get on the train and I ended up being stuck in a corner for a few hours. But during that time Desdon found me and he's stuck with me since."

Yuj tried to hide a feeling of relief so that it didn't show as strong as he felt it, but there seemed to be another emotion mixed in there as well. At least someone had been with her to hold her together. He gave a short glance to Desdon, who was still talking with Goji.

"Seems like a nice guy."

Leanna nodded. "He is. I've known him for a couple years from Eden. His father and my guardian work together so we see each other at business parties and we were both kinda outsiders so..."

"Birds of a feather flock together." Yuj chimed. Leanna thought a second before she smiled and nodded in agreement. Yuj felt a strange sense of displacement. Like he was somehow on some level lower than she was. She was from Eden, a place he visited so often. He could see how they lived, their city, and knew how much money most of the people there probably had. She was from there, but at the same time not originating there. She was a mix of two worlds. And yet, Yuj, who had spent most of his years in an orphanage and worked most of his adolescent years for gil, felt like he was with someone of much higher standard, but still so down to Cocoon. She wasn't like most of the girls from Eden. Somehow, he was glad for that.

The two had started a conversation of their own. Idle chatter. Something to pass the time while they waited. But they were interrupted when shouts broke out through the immediate area. Civilians were either looking or pointing to something two bridges over. Snow and his group had started to return. They had found the other fugitives.

But someone had also found them.

Those on the bridge had become alert, as if they could jump into action from where they were. A large airship had loomed over the far bridge, and the canon wasn't looking one bit friendly. A targeted missile had hit its mark, but it hardly deterred the behemoth machine. The canon deployed a missile of its own and the bridge was alight with an orange mushroom of flame. The bridge wasn't able to withstand the damage and snapped, one side collapsing downwards at an angle. There were shouts of shock and terror from both NORA's front and on the bridge.

Leanna, along with others, had moved to the other side of the road to get a better look. But now she wished she hadn't. She could see them. Though they were small. She could see them. People. Dozens of them. They were falling off the bridge. They slid, tumbled, held on for dear life but they couldn't. She could see their small figures disappearing into the darkness below. She wasn't aware her hand had been clasped to her mouth, her eyes brimming with tears of horror. Then an arm obscured her vision and forced her head to turn away. Her vision was filled with blurred orange as she allowed herself to suddenly sob. She was trying to say words but nothing but sound came out, choked,whimpering. She felt like she was an overfilled bucket again, crying at anything and everything. She didn't close her eyes. Her brain forgot how to do that. She merely stared at the floor, seeing their shoes as tears dropped down. That image, it was burned into her mind. She could still hear screams.

They hardly had a moment to absorb what they had just witnessed, dozens of them...gone, when a voice came again from nowhere and everywhere. Sirens began to blare, the kind that sounded whenever there was an emergency. When a natural disaster was about to strike.

" _ **Attention Purge deportees! Attention Purge deportees! Put down your weapons and surrender immediately!**_ " As the man spoke, Leanna forced herself to look up and towards the source of the sound. Something was lowering from the ceiling, suspended by green tethers.

The Pulse vestige, in its entirety, was here. Those on the bridge could only watch in awe.

" _ **Your removal is the will of the people of Cocoon! Should you attempt to flee, the Sanctum will employ every resource necessary to bring you to justice! This land is no longer your home. Cease hostilities and surrender at once!**_ "

* * *

Oh my gosh u guys. Action is finally happening. It's only taken me four years.

* flings self into the furnace*

And anyone wondering, you see the boy Leanna talks to in the opening sequence when Sazh tells him he's not a l'cie. Precious little boy needs to be protected at all costs.


	14. Chapter 14

Within minutes, Lebreau had appeared down the connecting roadway. A man had his arm slung over her shoulder for support.

"We have wounded!" She shouted to the others, kicking them into initiative as several ran forward to take those who couldn't walk or be carried by others. Many had surivived the fall, but not without minor injury or concussion. They were lain on the road side, each with a NORA member or someone medically trained from the civilians to look at their wounds. The panic over what had happened was channeled into trying to save those who had made it. The entire group slowly migrated over the debris to where the others couldn't go any further.

Leanna felt useless. She had slumped to the floor, legs bent and splayed beneath her as she stared at the ground.

This was horrible. What she was feeling was horrible. She wanted it to stop. She wanted all this to be over. To be a bad dream. She wanted to wake up. She wanted to cry but nothing was coming out. Her body didn't know what it wanted to feel anymore and just felt everything. Then there was something bright in her vision, white, with dozens of lights all over the surface. It was the puzzle sphere, held in the hand of the boy she had given it to. He was looking at her with a sullen expression, offering it to her. He didn't say anything, but his expression made her feel like the same scenario that had happened before was happening again in reverse. Leanna smiled and took the sphere. For him, for now, she would try to smile. If he could be brave, so could she. The boy had left, off to join a group of similar aged children where they'd been ushered, away from the all the tragedy.

Desdon had returned to her side with a bottle of water. He shared it with her, for which Leanna was grateful. She was hungry, tired, thirsty and had a very strong headache coming on. She rummaged in her bag and found her small medicine pouch. She popped a pain reliever into her mouth and drowned it down with water.

She heaved a heavy sigh and asked in a hoarse but bemused tone.

"If I tell my guardian what happened here, do you think he'll be less angry with me?"

Desdon only grinned. "I think he'd have a heart attack, actually."

"Really?"  
"He was really worried about where you'd gone. In his strange way of showing it."

Leanna thought this over. Her guardian worried about where she was? He hardly knew where she was most of the time. She looked down at her puzzle sphere and began moving several pannels around until it lit up half the puzzle.

"You can solve it that fast?"

Leanna gave a nod. "I do a lot of puzzles in my free time." The puzzle was a good distraction. If she just focused on the colors, nothing else, her mind became blank again.

"Lee! I mean-" Leanna looked up. Only one person ever did that with her name.

"Maqui!" Leanna smiled, slow to get to her feet as the boy ran over.

"You okay?" He asked.

Leanna nodded. Once again, with him around, it was hard to feel anything but the emotion he was. Either he was contagious or she was too empathetic. He scratched the back of his head. He hadn't gotten out of the explosion unscathed either. He had a bruise along his face with signs of road burn and his pant leg and sleeve were torn and dirtied.

"I should be asking  _you_  if you're okay. " Leanna replied.

"Ah, just a little shell shock." Maqui brushed away her concern. "It's mostly worn off now. We're starting to mobilize to get out of here once Gadot and Snow come back. Before... anything else happens."

Anything else meaning...

Leanna pushed the thought from her mind. "Oh, this is Desdon." She pointed to the man sitting beside her. "He's my friend from Eden. He got caught up int he Purge with me."

"Hey! Nice to meet ya! I mean...if we weren't ... ya know, in this whole situation."

Desdon smiled and returned the greeting with a nod. It felt strange, and Leanna could sense it as well, that in the mix of all this there was still time for pleasantries.

"You're meeting everyone I know." Leanna mused as Maqui was ordered by Lebreau to tend to someone. "Let's see, there's still Gadot. He's hard to miss. And Snow, he's even harder to miss. You won't believe how tall he is." She sat back down beside Desdon. Her mind thankfully latched onto her topic of describing and mentioning the other NORA members and the strange quirks she found out about them.

A short while later, there was a sound of air bikes nearing them. A pair of standard miltiary aircrafts streaked through the air and landed on the end of the broken bridge.

"Hey!" Someone called out.

Several NORA members jumped to defensive positions, but they were surprised and lowered their weapons when their leader pleaded. "H-hey! It's us! It's us!" Snow shouted over the sound of the engine. The bikes lowered and powered down. "Don't shoot!" The main members of NORA quickly went to greet the return of their leader.

Leanna watched from where she sat. Once again she felt better, but it was probably only matter of time before something else happened. She took a moment to look around those who had joined them. Some of them were kids, but most were adults. There were two standing just to the middle of the roadway. A girl in an outfit Leanna couldn't guess was a signature of. And a boy wearing something that was certainly eye catching, but in a startling sort of way.

"I'm gonna go see if I can help with anything. Ya gonna be all right?" Desdon asked.

Leanna nodded her head and watched him leave. She was starving, but had no appetite. She wondered how long she could hold out with it. She stood up, not wanting to feel so out of place sitting alone and walked, crossing to the other side of the road. She couldn't resist. She had to look down. Beneath Hanging Edge there was nothing but blackness. This was a weird place. Since it was hard to see how they entered, Leanna wondered if Hanging Edge had been built in some sort of cavern. With the green spotted ceiling above, and something down below. Something where all of those people...

She heard a pair of voices say in unison. "The army's no match for NORA!" And she glanced over her shoulder to see Lebreau smacking Maqui and Yuj on the head. They could be so lighthearted in light of what had happened, what was happening. Were they brave? Was that what bravery was?

An engine revved back up, peircing the air with its engine. It wasn't like the ones Maqui had modified, although those were here as well parked down on the other side, but they were still loud. Leanna watched Snow had a few last sentences with the group as the bike lifted, turned, and streamed away.

Leanna turned back, glad that her hood gave her some anonimity. She was tired of talking to everyone. She was tired of trying to look happy. Forcing a smile. It felt wrong. Bad things had happened in so little time, she felt like she wouldn't smile for days.

Without realizing it, she'd spoken something out loud.

"I think I'd rather have died with everyone else."

She heard foot steps behind her, and she realized she had been overheard. She looked over her shoulder to find the boy from before. His light colored eyes were giving her an almost empathetic look. As if he felt the same way but he had something on his mind right now. Their contact only lasted for a second before he turned away and continued running.

Another bike was revved. Someone else was leaving. Gadot, who had been searching for ammo, weapons and able bodied people, shouted at whoever was manning the airbike. But it was too late. Leanna was able to catch sight of them before they sped of. The same two from before; the tribal girl and the boy who had overheard her. They hijacked an airbike and flew almost uncontrollably away from the bridge. Gadot's commands to return went unheeded.

"What was that all about?" Someone asked.

"Geeze. Those kids-" Gadot almost swore but stopped himself. "They're on their own now..."

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Are any of you liking it so far? You know I'd love to hear from you guys! Comments, favorites. Comments...I love comments. Oh and if any of you wanna talk to Leanna she does have a blog on tumblr~! Edenslostwallflower. Yay! Go bug her! She's lonely!

 **5/6/15**  
So this is the most recent chapter I've worked on. Which was about 6 months ago. Like I said in the first chapter I'm really slow with writing but I realized this story doesn't have to be as long as I'm making it out. So hopefully it'll be done in the near future~


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